MORE than 100 of the South West’s Olympic sailing hopefuls of the future took to the waters at Chew Valley Sailing Club (Bristol) for the 2012 RYA Volvo South West Zone Championships.
Sailors competing in Optimists, Toppers and RS Feva XL classes enjoyed five to 10 knots of breeze with spells of sunshine at Chew Valley Sailing Club as all classes completed their three scheduled races in a thrilling opening day to the regatta.
Sunday threw up another great day of sailing conditions as the sailors revelled in 12-15 knots with the occasional gust of 20 knots making for a challenging and shifty final day to the regatta.
The sailors were inspired by London 2012 Olympic sailor Kate Macgregor as she visited the South West event.
After spending the day out on the water, Macgregor said: “Today has been a great day of racing at what is such a great venue for the junior sailors to improve and develop within the sport of sailing. I have no doubt I have just witnessed the next wave of Britain’s Olympic hopefuls down here at Chew Valley Sailing Club which is such an exciting prospect.”
In the Optimist fleet, a battle at the top of the leaderboard emerged between James Harris (Axbridge) and Ryan Bush (Axbridge), both from Bristol Corinthian Sailing Club. However, it was Harris who clinched the event tile after sealing three race wins across the two day regatta.
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