15 October 2025
Tactics and team spirit shine at RYA Eric Twiname Youth & Junior Team Racing Championships
Patience, precision and partnership put young sailors’ teamwork to the ultimate test
A weekend of tight mark roundings, bold tactical calls and impressive teamwork defined this year’s RYA Eric Twiname Youth & Junior Team Racing Championships, as young sailors from across the country converged on Oxford Sailing Club from 12-13 October for one of the most anticipated fixtures in the annual racing calendar.
Teams were competing across three categories – Youth (u19), Junior (u17) and Super Junior (u15) – with a blend of strategy, skill and team solidarity on display as they represented their home club, school, class or youth sailing organisation in the bid for event honours.
In spite of an extremely light forecast on Saturday, the Super Junior and Junior competitions, racing in RS Fevas, managed a handful of races in the small pockets of wind that materialised, while the Youth teams, competing in Fireflies, had to wait another day to get their event underway.
After a nervous delay for the wind to fill in on Sunday, racing finally got underway at lunchtime, with race officials using every available minute until the 5pm cut-off time to ensure as full and fair a series as possible.
Royal Hospital School’s young teams impressed across the board with a podium finish in every category, while Sevenoaks School also showed strong form with medal-winning performances in both the Junior and Youth events.
In the Super Junior competition, RHS’s Green team (Jacob Richardson, Phoebe Phillpot, Joshua Booth, Jenny Simpson) came out on top in a tiebreak over Walhampton Blue (Rory Bubb, Billy Bubb, Louis Rumbold, Bora Carrington) with both teams winning five out of their six races.
The North East and Yorkshire Youth Sailing Association’s Orange team (Oliver Smith, Johnnie Tellez, Noah Gaunt, Edward Gebhard) rounded out the podium places in third.
The Junior category saw several strong teams all in contention, with the two Rutland teams – Ospreys and Racers – RHS Orange and Sevenoaks Blue and Ryde Rugrats all securing five out of six wins.
Under the event’s Single Change Swiss League format, it was the Rugrats (Bear Baker, Cassius Day, Fallon Day, Elsie Jenkinson) who emerged as winners following the tiebreak. Sevenoaks’ Poppy-Grace Dixon-Lyon, Charlotte Murdock-Smith, Samuel Horsley and Fin Tarrant took silver and with bronze going to RHS Orange (Benjamin Wilton, Bay Ommanney-Terry, Kyan Jowers, Rias Rai).
The Ipswich school celebrated a second bronze and a third podium spot in the Youth category through their RHS Falcons (Toby Smith, Devon Lane, Sarah Davis, Daisy Adams, Trystan Hocking, Mathilde Phillipps). They won all four of their races to claim a 100% record, but with Sevenoaks White (Jamie Middleburgh, Josh Beverley, Izzy Johnson, Grace Davies, Oli Chambers, Henry Wilkinson) and the Rutland Rascals (Harry Burge, Euan Burge, Annabelle Hacker, Daniel Cowley, Oliver Mckee, Grace Cullen) also achieving the same feat, it came down to a tiebreak once again with the Rascals taking the event win and Sevenoaks a second silver from the weekend.
In a warming display of sportsmanship and acknowledging the closeness of the competition, the Rutland Rascals invited their rivals to join in with their podium moment.
“The weekend certainly started out as a test of patience while we waited for wind,” said Event Director Niall McLeod, “but the race team and all our volunteers did a great job of making the most of the weather window when it came and provided some quality competition for the sailors.
“This event provides a fantastic opportunity for young racers to test their boat-handling, strategy, rules knowledge, communication and to work collaboratively for the good of the team. It was great to see that all on display this weekend.”
“We’re grateful for the continued support of the Eric Twiname Trust, to our hosts Oxford Sailing Club and Thames Water, RS Sailing and all the organisations who provided boats, and to all our volunteers for their time, energy and commitment in making this event possible.”
