Profitable winter's sailing for Parsons and Lennon (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Profitable winter's sailing for Parsons and Lennon

Elliott Parsons, a 15-year-old pupil at Kingshill School in Cirencester, along with his crew Jenny Lennon, from Frensham Ponds Sailing Club, have certainly had a busy and profitable winter's sailing.

First they were selected for the Cadet British squad and after Christmas were invited into the RYA 10 invitational squad.

These ten boats have been identified by the RYA as having the most potential and promise for the future.

And from January 25, these two have been training with top Olympic coaches every weekend at various sea venues around the country in preparation for the 18- race selection series that will select the seven boat teams to go to Belgium for the world championships in August.

The first of these venues was Rutland Water, not only a selector for the worlds but also the British Cadet Inland Champion-ships from April 14-17.

Local interest centred on the South Cerney Cadet squadron with over eight boats attending, but there were in total over 120 boats entered from all around the country.

Practice race on Tuesday afternoon was in light but shifty winds and bright sunshine.

Apparently, it is traditional not to win the race as it brings bad luck for the rest of the event.

Nonetheless, this race was close and Elliott and Jenny sailing cadet 8519 Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster eased up on the line to take fourth place.

After an enforced delay, race one got underway around with over 100 nervous boats on the start line and it came as no surprise to see two general recalls before the fleet finally got away on the third attempt.

Elliott and Jenny made a perfect start and, by the windward mark, had the lead which was extended to 32 seconds by the leeward mark.

They steadily pulled away from the fleet to win by one minute and five seconds.

Race two developed into a well contested affair with James Wade from Burnham, North London's Guy Brewery, Stephen Videlo (Ipswich) and Elliott and Jenny all leading at one stage or another.

Elliott and James Wade broke away up the last beat and James pipped Elliott on the line to claim the victory.

Clubhouse leaders on day one were Elliott and Jenny with three points and four clear of the rest of the field.

Day 2 was just as sunny but with stronger force 3/4 easterly winds. In race four on day two, Elliott and Jenny pull through the fleet after a bad start to finish 21st.

Following straight on afterwards, the Cadets had very little time for adjustments for race five in which Elliott and Jenny pulled back to record tenth.

Race 6 began after lunch and a slight course change after a wind shift. There was a clean start and, up the first beat the left-hand side of the course paid off.

Elliott rounded the windward mark third but, by the wing mark was first, with Guy Brearey chasing him hard in the most exciting race of the day.

After an hour's battling, Elliott took the win from Guy with a lead of just six seconds.

While these results meant that Elliott and Jenny finished third on the water, on returning to shore they discovered that some protests had been registered.

As it was, they affected the final results in which Elliott and Jenny finished fifth overall.

And this meant that as they had finished inside the top seven, it put them on course for the world team and South Cerney's best-ever result at a major cadet event.

Next leg of the selectors takes place at Highcliffe on the south coast on this May Day Bank holiday weekend where Elliott and Jenny will be looking to keep their top-seven place.