|
Welton Waters throb with high powered Hondas!
Young speedboat enthusiasts from as far away as Teesside,
Leeds and Sheffield lined up at Welton Waters Sailing Club, near Hull, on
Saturday 3rd May to compete for the title Honda RYA Youth RIB
Yorkshire Regional Champion 2008.
The event, the first in this year’s UK wide competition to
find the Honda RYA Youth RIB National Champion, is a test of speed and boat
handling. The young competitors are split into two groups; junior – aged 8 to 12
years and youth – aged 13 to 16 years, and the Regional Champions in each group
will be invited to compete in the national final at the Southampton Boat Show in
September 2008. As well as the glory of the title “Honda RYA Youth RIB
Champion”, the prize on offer will be a brand new speedboat, complete with a
powerful Honda outboard engine for use by the winner’s chosen club.
Watching the action on the water was Welton Sailing Club
Commodore, Peter Hirschfeld, “It is an honour for the club to host this exciting
event and for us to welcome our visitors here today. It’s a fantastic
opportunity for the youngsters to gain experience handling these high
performance boats, and they are learning such a lot as well as having great
fun.”
Bernard Wells, Vice Commodore, also commented, “We have a
vibrant youth section here at the club, and it’s great to see the girls
competing alongside the boys. We could certainly do with one of these speedboats
here at the club to use as a safety boat when we are sailing!”
Mr Wells could soon get his hands on one because, when the
times were calculated at the end of the day, the Junior Championship went to 11
year old Ross Flemming from Welton Sailing Club!! Ross’s time was 1min 38.9sec –
which would have been good enough to earn him fifth place even in the youth
class. Ross, who comes from Kippax in Leeds and attends Brigshaw High School,
had never driven one of these speedboats before the event. His comment
afterwards – “Brilliant!!!”
The Youth Championship was won by 16 year old Chris
Owen-Hughes from Yarm in North Yorkshire and who is a member of Scaling Dam
Sailing Club. A keen Laser sailor, Chris has had a bit of experience driving
RIBs before, “But this was much more fun…” Chris’s time was a fantastic 1min
17.1sec.
Both Regional Champions will now spend the summer
practising and training and will travel down to the National Final in September.
Martin Moll, Head of Marketing for event sponsor Honda
said: "We are very proud and pleased to be associated with the RYA Youth RIB
Challenge for another year because it allows us to create links with the wider
community - giving a younger generation access to our products and helping them
engage with interactive, team based, social activities.
Furthermore, as a manufacturer which puts safety at the
heart of everything we do, the RIB Challenge gives us a great opportunity to
underline this commitment."
The event continues to travel around the UK and the next
regional final in the north of England will be at Hartlepool in August.
For more information about the Honda RYA Youth RIB Championship, details
on how to get involved and a list of regional finals scores visit
www.rya.org.uk
-Ends- |
