Skipper Jamie Tylecote claimed the RYA Harken Youth Match Racing Championship title for a second consecutive year at Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy.

With a full range of breeze over a hot and sunny weekend (27-28 June 2026) on the south coast, six teams of sailors aged 23 and under battled it out aboard Elliott 6M keelboats for both the overall crown and the trophy for the highest placed under-19 team.

With an experienced team comprising Millie Deacon, Issy Leetch and Terry Hacker, Tylecote never lost a match for a resounding victory, but was pushed throughout by two teams from Southampton University Sailing Club.

As ever the event attracted both new and existing match racers and provided an opportunity for youth sailors more familiar with dinghy racing to give keelboat and match racing a go in a friendly and supportive environment.

Two teams took advantage of a Friday afternoon training session, and the event also included a debrief on the Saturday after racing, and opportunities to chat with umpires on the water between races to develop rules knowledge. 

Round robins

Racing started on the Saturday after a short wait for the wind to arrive, with light breezes of up to around 8 knots maximum allowing the completion of one round robin.

With the sailors having been on the water for the best part of six hours - supported through the heat of the day with extra refreshments – it was decided to call it a day at 3.30pm when the wind started to shut off again as forecast.

The Sunday then started with 12 knots of breeze which steadily built during the morning to 13 to 15 knots, and then 15-18 knots for the finals series.

Mainsails were reefed before leaving the dock, allowing teams to hold onto a three-sail plan with spinnakers for the whole day. Event director Phil Devereux explained: “Once spinnakers are removed it almost negates the power of the downwind penalty as there’s less skill involved, so it changes the dynamic of the racing quite a lot.

“We elected instead to brief the sailors to reef earlier than you might do normally to ensure quality racing and do it on the dock rather than afloat with a break in racing or a messy reef that isn’t great for performance. It worked really well. We kept a three-sail plan all day and it was just really great sailing conditions.” 

Topping the leaderboard after the completion of a second round robin was Tylecote’s team, with Southampton University SC skippers Luke Knezevic and Jack Woolterton in second and third respectively, each having won six out of 10 matches.

Becky Caiger’s all-female team, having claimed five wins, were in fourth, and in the semi finals were beaten by Tylecote 2-0. The other semi-final was also concluded with a 2:0 scoreline with Woolterton beating Knezevic.

The Petit Final saw Knezevic beat Caiger 2-0 to claim third overall. Tylecote’s team then continued their winning ways to take a 2-0 victory over Woolterton in the Final. Tylecote’s team didn’t have it all their own way - with some tight matches, umpire calls and penalties to shake off – but delivered an impressive performance to remain unbeaten throughout the championship.

Under-19s title

Claiming the Under-19s trophy was a team of 420 sailors from Itchenor Sailing Club taking part in their first ever match racing event and comprising Felix Garlick (16), Apolline Depaepe (17), Freddie Jones (15) and Rupert Garlick (13).

Felix said: “The event was amazing. I learnt lots, and everybody, including competitors, was super friendly and happy to answer any questions and give out tips. It was great to try a different type of sailing, although it took some getting used to, and the more tactical element in the start was lots of fun. I am looking forward to potentially competing in match racing events in the future.”

Also competing as Under-19s was a team from Oxford SC / FPSC, with Daniel Larsen – who crewed in the winning U19 team at last year’s event – returning this time as skipper with another young team: Mark Soars, Zoe Lomas-Clarke and Emily Shell.

Overall Results RYA Harken Youth Match Racing 2026

1. Jamie Tylecote, Millie Deacon, Issy Leetch and Terry Hacker
2. Jack Woolterton, Tim Evans, Lucy Street, Edward White-Belchere
3. Luke Knezevic, Oli Hale, Rachel Harper, Tom Cluett
4. Becky Caiger, Erin Pank, Ciara Charlwood, Gracie Joslin
5. Felix Garlick, Apolline Depaepe, Freddie Jones, Rupert Garlick
6. Daniel Larsen, Mark Soars, Zoe Lomas-Clarke, Emily Shell

Summing up, Devereux said: “There were some new-to-match-racing crews – and some newly put together teams – who really did progress over the weekend.  They came ready with their experience from day one and applied it really nicely to day two, so we had tight matches and some really good sailing, with a levelling up of boat handling and crew work that was really good to see.

“It was a great weekend of match racing and we hope these new teams will be encouraged to continue in this exciting part of the sport. Everyone seemed to really enjoy it and there were plenty of tired but smiley faces!”

At the prize giving thanks were given to title sponsor Harken, host venue WPNSA and the volunteers who enabled the event to take place: Chief Umpire Liz Proctor, Umpires Steve Proctor, Stephanie Gunn and Sally Burnett, Race Officer Nicole Ames and Assistant Race Officer Freya Mason.

Next up with entry now open is the RYA Marlow Ropes Women’s Match Racing Championship over the weekend of 12-13 September 2026 at WPNSA. Discover more, including a ‘how to’ guide, at RYA Match Racing.