Summer Sailing Success

This summer I was delighted to win a sailing trophy at the Cadet National Championships.

I sail regularly at Waldringfield Sailing Club in a Cadet dinghy which has three sails and is for two people. I control the jib and the colourful spinnaker as my helm controls the mainsail and which direction we go. We work well as a team. Our boat is bright green and called Spectre because the sail number ends in 007!

After a busy year of training and racing we competed against the best Cadet sailors in the country at the National Championships at Brixham in Devon. It was exciting sailing on the sea for the first time with the big waves and high winds. I lean out of the boat to keep it flat which is faster and stops it capsizing. I was so proud to win the Silver Fleet after a brilliant week winning medals in seven out of the ten races.

Racing is fun, but also hard work as I have to adapt to changing wind, waves and other boats. It makes me more resilient when dealing with unexpected problems like when our sail ripped in high winds.

I really enjoy being out on the water in the sun and have made lots of new friends from different schools.

Winning the trophy shows what can happen from putting in a lot of hard work. It’s inspiring that somebody who used to sail Cadets at Waldringfield might compete at the Paris Olympics. We’ll train through the cold winter and I’m looking forward to more racing, and hopefully more trophies, next year.

James Vellacott, Ipswich Preparatory School