AROUND 300 young competitors showed off their sailing skills at Grafham Water last week, when the National School Sailing Association held its week long national youth regatta.

Children aged eight to 15 took part, using 260 boats over the five day event.

The top placed Cambridgeshire competitors were: Fast handicap fleet, Matthew Hopkins was 10th; Laser radial, Edward Ashworth was 20th; Laser standard, Martin Mills was placed 7th; Slow handicap, Tom Lachlan-Cope and Oskar Tonkinson were second; Laser 4.7 fleet, Hannah Whiteside was 4th.

Topper fleet, Lawrence Clabburn was 3rd; and in the rookie fleet, Will James was placed 10th.

The Hunts Trophy, for the most deserving team contributor from Cambridgeshire was won by Edward Ashworth and in the rookie fleet, the Seamanship Trophy went to Ross Ellis.

The teams are now looking forward to next year’s national youth regatta, to be held at the Olympic venue of Weymouth and Portland.

Cate Whiteside from the organising team said: “We had youth teams from around the UK taking part, with Cambridgeshire having a record-breaking sized team of 58 sailors.

“We are all very excited, this will be the last big event at the venue before the Olympics. We will be testing out their final preparations and it promises to be a wonderful regatta.”