The Windermere School Sailing Team recently took part in the Northeast and Yorkshire Youth Sailing RS Feva Team Racing competition at Ripon Sailing Club. Despite facing challenging racing conditions and competing against older and more experienced teams, they performed exceptionally well.

On Saturday, the weather was beautiful, with frost on the ground. The first day consisted of a round-robin series to rank the sailors and prepare for the deciding races on Sunday. The Windermere A team, led by Freddie Wood, one of our most competent racers, won all but one of their races, making a fantastic start. Unlike fleet racing, which is the usual format of sailing races, team racing is more tactical, with teams trying to attack and defend their positions. In this competition, each team had two boats, and to ensure a victory, one of the opposite team’s boats had to finish fourth.

The Windermere B team had a few sailors who were participating in their first competitive event, and competing against older and more experienced sailors was a big challenge. However, they performed admirably, improving throughout the day and eventually winning.

However, on Sunday, a hard frost had set in, freezing all the ropes leading to participants having to pour hot water on them to be able to rig the boat. The groups were split into Gold and Silver fleets, with Windermere having a team in both. As the A team had performed so well on Saturday, they faced tough competition on Sunday against formidable teams, which they battled bravely. Team B, which was in the Silver fleet, also showed immense maturity as they grasped the various aspects of this style of racing and put them into practice.

All members of the team displayed exceptional maturity, recognizing the areas they need to work on in the upcoming training sessions. The team conducted themselves exceedingly well and demonstrated that we are still the leading sailing school in the northern region.

– Chris Brooks, Director of Performance Sailing 

Windermere School is an Independent Boarding and Day School for ages 3-18, across Junior School, Senior School and Sixth Form. The school offers holiday courses and a summer school programme, as well as short term immersion courses for international pupils, as well as an award winning IB programme. Join the adventure today >