Churston Ferrers Grammar School

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Thomas’ Sailing Success

September 12, 2022

Over the last year, Thomas in Year 8 has been getting up to a great deal. What follows is an exciting update detailing all that he has been doing.

During his Year 7 at Churston in 2021-2022, Thomas was fortunate enough to be selected by 2 dinghy sailing squads and participated in regular weekend training sessions at locations across the UK, all of which greatly supported his personal progression in dinghy racing. In July 2022, he completed the final national series event, held in Leicestershire, where he won 1st place overall in the 4.2 (a smaller sail for smaller sailors) in his Topper Dinghy!

Next, over the Summer, Thomas took part in the International Topper Championships in Lake Garda in Italy. Here, he showed a massive amount of determination and perseverance racing in some very windy conditions six hours a day and for six days total. After which, his terrific effort was rewarded with a 4th place overall in the 4.2 International sail.

With just a week’s rest, Thomas then took part in the National Championships, held at the national Sailing Academy in Weymouth (where the 2012 sailing Olympic events were held.) The conditions were very hot with only light winds and yet again, Thomas showed real stamina and willpower to achieve brilliant results of coming in the top 1,2 or 3 in every race over 5 days.

The racing was closely fought against great sailors all of whom were very competitive. However Thomas held his nerve and achieved 1st place! Throughout the week, the sailors in the top places displayed great friendship and comradery while on shore. With many smiles shared, jokes told and hugs given, they truly wished one another ‘good luck’ and really exemplified the RYA’s values for sailing.

Both Thomas’ family and we at Churston are immensely proud of him for all the hard work (and Wintery miles driven!) invested by himself and many others over the last year. Sailing can be a hard sport for a child to pursue as it can seem alien to both friends and teachers. It can also put friendships to the test as you are away most weekends so socialising with school friends is difficult, as is keeping up with school work. He received lots of messages from his school friends whilst at the Nationals and has been supported by both his friends and teachers emotionally and academically.

So what next? Thomas is going to take the leap and make the transition to the bigger sailing scene. He is hoping to be selected by the RYA Training Group (coaching/ training squad) again this year. As he is ‘moving up’ he will not be part of the 4.2 training squad weekends across the UK but he continues to look for other coaching opportunities.

His next big event is the ‘Endeavour Trophy’ at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club in Burnham on Crouch, Essex 7-9th October, which is legendary for dinghy sailing in the UK. Only National Champions are invited to take part. He will be one of the only children involved and will be racing alongside Sailing Olympians. He will take part in a day’s training for all competitors on the Friday led by an ex Olympic Coach. This is due to the fact that they will all be sailing in a new category of boats; a double handed, larger dinghy, very different to his Topper!

Churston looks forward to hearing more from Thomas and his family and where his sailing takes him next!

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