Training success at Upper Thames SC in 2021

Training Coordinator Sarah Percival takes up the story:

We’ve had a busy season, but it’s also been fun and rewarding! Here are some of our highlights and achievements during 2021 for training and coaching, and also an invitation for members to get involved in 2022 and help carry this momentum on.

Training

The Powerboat 2 course in October was fully subscribed. All the students were successful in achieving their certificates- congratulations to Callum Rayner, Ollie Meadowcroft, Rob Rayner, Don McDermott, Daniel Dudley and Emily Charles. Thanks to Ian Wilson and Jeremy Stein for running the course.

The StartSail sessions from May to July were really popular, with 25 different members signing up for one or more sessions. It was great to enable people getting out on the water with the support and instruction they needed to boost their confidence.

This was followed by the two RYA 4-day courses – well done to all the participants who had a fantastic time improving their skills on the river. The following certificates were awarded:

Stage 1 and 2-Kian Chanchiani, Charles Crooks, Theo Smith, Harry Hindley, Max and Jake Brown, Oliver and Harry Newman, Tom Etchell, Daniel Summerfield, Callum Telfer, Alexander and Harry Ratcliffe, Ian Garner, Melody Carro-Tevfik, Lucia and Emilia Capper, Emerson Gomm, Ethan Anderson, Nick Mackay, Tom Wharfe, Rebecca Wilkinson, Alice Togneri and Arthur Barber

Stage 3 and 4- Samantha and Anna Sillars, Tristan Mitchell and Anabelle Rayner

Adult Level 3 - Emily Charles and Don McDermott

Start Racing- Chris Mieszken and Tony O’Connell

Congratulations to Jake Gould on qualifying as a Dinghy Instructor, and welcome to the team to the two newly qualified Assistant Instructors- Tre Jacobs and Callum Rayner.

Cadet Coaching

We had great turnouts and some new faces for the weekly Tuesday evening informal coaching, and celebrated the last session with some capsize practice (to cool off!) and a barbecue- a beautiful evening to end the sessions. We then reverted to the monthly Saturday morning sessions – the last one of the year was December 4 in perfect sunny winter conditions for the hardy few! The Team Racing event was adapted to individual team racing and a dozen cadets took part.

The RYA Regional Junior Championships at Queen Mary SC gave a small group of UTSC members the opportunity to take part in big start lines, although the wind was disappointing, with racing only taking place on the second day. Jake Gould and Rowan Dunkin were sailing a Feva, Jude Armstrong, Will Crook and Ax Crook in Toppers.

Following this performance Jude Armstrong has been selected for the London and South East regional training group for Toppers and will benefit greatly from that over the coming months.

Ollie Meadowcroft continues to progress within the British Youth Sailing structure and for the second year has been selected for the Youth Performance Squad in the 420 class. Ollie and his crew Oscar have made excellent progress through the year and with a second place in the UK National Championships and an overall win at one of the Autumn Open meetings are looking forward to a great 2022. The next big goal is the RYA Youth National Championships in Wales next Easter. They are training throughout the winter in pursuit of this.

Photo - Ollie helming the 420. Credit Jon Cawthorne.

All this success has started at UTSC, just getting on the water, having fun and building water confidence. And from this pretty humble start these sailors have developed greater aspirations and subsequent achievements.

We’re lucky to have such a great team of enthusiastic instructors and coaches, so a big thanks for all the work this season goes to Simon Eddison, Katy Meadowcroft, Matt Kite, Martin Beddows, Matt Percival-Stein, Dan Rathbone, Tom Percival-Stein, Jake Gould, Katie Rathbone, Kate Mackenzie, Ed Stroud, Alice Heminsley, Dan Meadowcroft, Callum Rayner and Tre Jacobs. Thanks also to the parents who help out with running the cadet sessions- notably Guy Jacobs, Rick Crook and Mark Addison.

We have two RYA First Aid courses early next year- January 15 and February 12 at the bargain price of £30. This is a good general First Aid course but with a focus on providing first aid in a watersports environment so applicable to any of us who own boats or spend time on the river. If you need to update your certificate (they last for 3 years) or want to take the course to increase your skills, book now! We’re planning a Safety Boat course in February and a Powerboat 2 course in March- look out for details in the New Year.

How can you help?

We continue to encourage members to develop their skills as Powerboat Instructors, Dinghy Instructors and Race Coaches, and we’d like to increase our number of Senior Instructors, so if you are interested, please get in touch to find out what’s involved and how the club can help.

Happy Christmas all!

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