Covenham cyclones at The Nationals!

The amazing experience started with a team of 15 children competing in 4 classes (determined by the size of the sail they were using)

The team Jo Dickinson( 10) Harry Maw(10) Jac Maw (12) Bethany Plaskett (12) Tom Dickinson (12) Joe Moore (12) Hannah Tasker (13) Ben Foxon (13) Andrew Thompson (13) Issac Cooper (13) Greg Baldock (14) Daniel Hufton ( 14) Simon Thompson (15) Luke Tasker (15) David Smith (15) who make up the Covenham Cyclones had qualified for the National Windsurf Team 15 championships held at Rutland water over the weekend of 15th 16th October. They had got there, by winning four regional competitions through the summer to become the Northern zone champions in their very first season of windsurfing.

In all there were 9 teams made up of 135 youngsters from across the UK.

Team 15 is a project by the Royal yachting association, through local clubs, aimed at getting young people involved in windsurfing. No more than 15 in the team , no one older than 15 years.

Races for the 3.5 and 4.5 meter sails were held at the same time as the 5.5 & 6.5 meter sail sizes. Both days started with fog and Sundays racing was threatened as it failed to clear as quickly as hoped. However, both days ended in glorious sunshine and all completed 10 races in all.

Jo Dickinson.(10 years old) make a huge impression to everyone by his amazing efforts in the 3.5meter class.In his second appearance in the team and using a 2.8 meter sized sail he maintained a place in the fleet after brilliantly timed starts.

Tom Dickinson in the 4.5 meter class improved from 6th. position to 4th in two of his races.

Daniel Huften in the 5.5 class was consistent and finished half way up the fleet.

The three older boys Luke, David & Simon gradually moved up the fleet as each race progressed. Simon Thompson was competing in this class for the first time against the best youth windsurfers in the country. In fact there were several youngsters who trained regularly with the National squad. Click on any of the images (largest 156k) below to see (in a new window) a bigger picture taken at Rutland.

Results

6.5 meter class Sunday / Overall

Luke Tasker 19th

Simon Thompson 21st

DAvid Smith 22nd

5.5 meter class

Daniel Hufton 15th

Greg Baldock 20th

Andrew Thompson 22nd

4.5 meter

Hannah Tasker 18th

Tom Dickinson 4th

Joe Moore 11th

Bethany Plaskett 19th

Jack Maw 12th

Issac Cooper 8th

Ben Foxon 9th

3.5 meter class

Harry Maw 14th

Jo Dickinson 12th

The organisation was good and the hospitality was warm. The coaches and organisers were brilliant with the youngsters offering constructive information so that they could get the best out of the weekend and their experience at such a prestigious event.

The experience was made al the better for youngsters by the support of several windsurf suppliers giving and loaning equipment. Boardwise of Cannock in Staffordshire gave the team 4 specialist boards. Hifly loaned two complete sets of kit. Naish donated some harness's for sale at a fund raising auction which in turn enabled racing sails and equipment to be available to the youngsters to ensure they could compete on comparable kit rather than just training kit. BMW (Astle) provided a van for the transportation of the kit as well as sponsoring one set . Reef rash- Cleethorpes & co-op Lincoln each sponsored a sail.

The success of the whole project has been made possible by the efforts of the children who have learned & practiced through the summer- their parents for transporting them too and from Covenham reservoir each week- and the coaches at Covenham who have given their time voluntarily. All have worked together to give the children a wonderful sporting opportunity that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Anyone interested in supporting this or the sailing project for young people in the area so more can attend the watersports activities- please contact Judith on 07919030162

Judith Templeman- principal of training at Covenham

If you click on any of the following small pics, you will see (in a new window) bigger pics (biggest file size is about 120k) taken when some of the Cyclones visited Scotland a little while before Rutland. If you don't, you won't!