First Youth Boat at RS200 National Championships

Retail Answers sponsored crew, Dicken Maclean (18) and Nicola Groves (18) won first youth boat (under 21) at the 2007 RS200 National Championships.

This year’s championship was held in Tenby, South Wales and with heavy winds on most days, proved to be a test of endurance. There was a huge fleet of 130 boats, a big step up from the fleet sizes at Youth level) and it was Dicken and Nicola’s toughest test yet. Dicken commented, “ We set ourselves a goal of top 30, but finishing 13th in the first race we felt we could achieve top 20.” As the week went on the standard rose even higher as the competitors got more practised at gate starts and got used to the venue. The Retail Answers team sailed a consistent series to finish 17th overall and secured first youth boat.

Dicken and Nicola will combine sailing with university over the next year and have ambitions for the 2008 Nationals. Dicken said “Next year the Nationals move to Hayling Island, where we have done much of our training in recent years. Hayling Island always attracts high numbers and many top sailors from other classes will be testing their skills against the big fleet. Next year the top 10 will be packed with big names and we hope to be in there with them.”