After a two-year gap, the 50th anniversary of Abersoch Dinghy Week was a much-anticipated open event, and by no-one more so than the seven cadets of Delph Sailing Club.
The trip was part funded by a legacy grant from John Merricks Sailing Trust, with the objectives of advancing the education and physical and mental development of young people in need and promoting the achievement of their potential through the sport of sailing.
The legacy grant has allowed Delph Sailing Club to purchase two new Laser Performance boats and three brand new toppers which are available for long term exclusive use by promising cadets. It also allowed the club to make small grants to other cadets to help them buy new sails. Every cadet at Abersoch was helped in some way by the club.
The first cadet at Delph to receive use of an exclusive loan boat was Will Dyson who held the top spot in his Laser and won the intermediate fleet against some very experienced sailors, a tremendous experience for his first regatta at sea!
When Will first became a member of Delph sailing club, he was nervous about race meets and preferred ‘free sailing’. Now at 16, Will is a confident and enthusiastic talisman for other cadets and well on his way to becoming an Dinghy instructor after a season helping with training as an assistant instructor. As you can see from his performance at Abersoch, he is also thriving in open competition.
When asked about what sailing means to him, Will simply replied “When I’m sailing, it’s like being in your own world”
Despite having been sailing for less than a year, Bill Morris, who is autistic, placed 2nd in the final days of sailing and a very respectable 5th overall. An incredible achievement.
Also, with only a year’s experience between them, sisters Poppy and Molly Haslam relished the opportunity to compete at sea. Molly performed all week consistently and finished with a well-deserved 11th place in her Topper ahead of far more experienced sailors, with sister Poppy taking some time to get to grips with the 4.7 and finished 12th overall.
Lilly Brown finished 10th in her Laser 4,7 with the Taylor brothers of Will & Nicholas finishing 9th & 13th in their Toppers.
Ian Brown, the Club development Officer for Delph said:
“The legacy grant from JMST has allowed us to support cadets of all ages to improve their sailing by ensuring that they are not being held back by their equipment. Everyone at the club is so proud of Will and his success but all of our cadets have more than repaid our investment in them with their positive attitude on and off the water.”
