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Optimist Class update, posted on 25th October. Following the very successful West Zone Championships at Blithfield, (reported below) Barnt Green Optimist Sailors have been selected for various training squads this Winter. Lucy Best has secured a place in the Development Squad after achieving a national ranking of 108, William Lockett has once again won a place in the West Zone Squad (National Ranking 98) and this year he will be joined by Matthew Cross who impressed everyone with his performance at Blithfield in the Zone Championships.

Congratulations to all three sailors. Hopefully, their success will inspire some of the other juniors who learn in Optimists at Barnt Green to progress on to racing the boat. If anyone would like help and advice on starting racing optimists, please contact David Lockett, Class Captain, details here

This report from David Lockett. Image from Carl Taylor. Posted on site on 30th September 2008.

The weekend of 27/28th September saw the Zone Championships take place across the country. Barnt Green was well represented in both the Optimist and Cadet Classes in the West Zone Championship held at Blithfield Reservoir.

The Optimist fleet had seventeen entrants including Lucy Best, William Lockett and Matthew Cross who each put in superb performances in the exceptionally light winds of Saturday and on Sunday.

Click image to enlarge, new window opens

The racing all weekend was of the highest standard and the result all came down to the last race where Lucy Best put in a staggering first beat to lead everyone to the windward mark by at least twenty boat lengths. From there, she was never troubled and won the race to gain third place and beat William into fourth. A special mention has to go to Matthew Cross who beat three members of last years zone squad. A truly fantastic performance considering he wasn't even considering applying for the Zone Squads.

In the Cadet class, Barnt Green was represented by Joe Taylor and Rebecca Rowe, Kate & Charlotte Rowe, Alice and Donald Pickworth, Jessica Pickworth and Freddie Lockett, Taylor and Ellis Jones and Dominic Lennon and David Allenby. The racing was tight for both days but Joe & Rebecca showed magnificent determination to win by a comfortable margin. Kate & Charoltte and Alice & Donald were in 4th and 5th having had a very tight battle for the two days. Jessica & Freddie have only just started sailing the Cadet but showed a great deal of promise for the future completing all races and beating others on occasions.

All in all a very successful day for Barnt Green Juniors. If you want to see the results in more detail, please click the links below, new windows open.

From www.sailracer.co.uk RYA Zone Championships Optimist Results Cadet Results

This report borrowed from Yachts and Yachting. Full report here

RYA West Zone Championships (Blithfield SC) Day One.

Blighted by dense fog until lunchtime and near millpond conditions, Blithfield was grateful for the arrival of a light six knots mid-afternoon and managed to get two races under their belts.

In the double-handers, Alex Lloyd (West Berholt) and Jack Moore (Stone) clinched a double bullet to lead the Mirror class from Ilkley brothers Matt and Ben Lulham-Robinson, who picked up two seconds while Barnt Green duo Joe Taylor and Rebecca Rowe head up the Cadet fleet having also scored two race wins, with Annabel Fox and Sophia Cockell second overall.

A first and third puts Lucy Yeates (Warrington) at the top of the Topper pile with Matt Venables second and Ian Payne third as Martin Wrigley’s 1,4 sees him lead the Oppie fleet from Lucy Best and Harry Orchard.

RYA West Zone Championships (Blithfield SC) Day Two.

Blithfield were determined to make up for lost time and succeeded in sailing four races today to complete their full series.

Matt Venables (Sutton Coldfield) made light work of sealing Topper class victory scoring 1, 2, 1, 1 today to finish on eight points with Lucy Yeates (Warrington) second on 15.

However it was much tighter at the top of the Oppies as James Hazelwood (Warrington) edged the class win from Martin Wrigley (Hereford) after finishing tied at the top on 10 points.

In the double-handers, Barnt Green duo Joe Taylor and Rebecca Rowe took the Cadets by storm winning five of their six races and finishing second in the other. Alex Lloyd (West Berholt) and Jack Moore (Stone) matched Taylor and Rowe’s feat to ease to Mirror success.

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