Young Hereford sailor takes top Welsh prize

10:40am Friday 5th September 2008

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THE Welsh Yachting Association Youth Regatta took place on Llangorse Lake last weekend, with seven races scheduled over the two days.

The popular event which attracted 73 boats and crews from Welsh clubs, was sponsored by Acorn Adventure and Llangorse Sailing Club, The first day was blessed with almost ideal conditions for the four races, with a steady south easterly wind, with very few of the wind shifts usually experienced at Llangorse.

By the end of the four races sailed on Saturday, Charlie Orr, a Llangorse club member from Breinton, having won one of the races, plus finishing third, fifth and eight in the other races, was in second place in the strongly contested single handed Topper dinghy fleet of 17 boats .

After the four races on Saturday, Martin Wrigley, another Llangorse club member from Hereford, was in third place in the hotly-competitive single-handed Optimist Gold fleet, having scored a second, fourth and fifth, in a fleet of 23 boats.

If Saturday was near ideal for dinghy racing, Sunday could not have been much worse. It began misty and windless and racing was postponed and it was obvious that the day’s racing would have to be curtailed.

Eventually a little very fitful wind appeared and the race officers decided to start the delayed race.

It was one of those Llangorse Lake days where being in right place at the right time made all the difference and, with the wind dying, the race officers decided to reduce the length of what turned out to be the only race of the day.

Unfortunately Charlie Orr got caught out by the shifty winds and finished down the fleet in ninth place, which dropped him down to fifth overall.

However, Wrigley in his Optimist, racing on the Optimist course at the other end of the lake, managed to overcome the wind shifts, having gained an unassailable lead finished the race in first place, giving him second place overall against some tough opposition, which won him the Blackham Trophy for the best performance by a Llangorse Sailing Club member.

Ben Ainslie, the four times Olympic sailing Gold medallist started his sailing career in an Optimist, as did many others in the Great Britain world beating sailing team in China. It was the third consecutive Olympics that the GB team has headed the sailing medals.

The prizes were presented by Andrew Gardiner, the Chairman of Acorn Adventure, who said perhaps some of these young competitors may make the Olympics in 2016.