Bala Youth Squad

North Wales Christmas Regatta

On a cold but sunny Sunday 18th Dec 60+ juniors from the far corners of North Wales gathered at Pwllheli sailng club. Four fleets raced: Optimist, Topper, General Handicap and 29er. Bala was represented in the General Handicap and 29er fleets. Well done to Aled in winning the GH fleet in his Laser Radial.

2012 Programme

The 2012 programme is now availible and our new Youth Co-ordinator, Helen Smith, has serval Youth coaching days.

21st April
26th May
21st July More are to follow.

Club Junior Trophies

Owen Shaw Shield 27th May
Pugwash Trophy 7th July-8th July
Junior Cup 19th August
6 hour Hour Race 24th August
On Board Regatta 3rd-4th September
9th September Junior Open

for details of all club trophies the club racing page.

This is Helen with International sailor Chris Grube

Winter training

Now that the season has finished at Bala DON'T stop sailing!!!! Join in the Club Open Training. See the Welshsailing for details. Also the Christmas Regatta at Pwllheli is a must do!

Welsh Laser Inlands

Well done to Sam Norfolk on representing Bala at the Welsh Laser Inlands. Held at Llyn Brenig over the weekend of 22nd 23rd of October.

Squad Selection

Well done to Aled on being selected for the UK wide RYA National Topper Squad and to James on selection to Welsh National Topper Squad. Chelsea is converting to Laser 4.7 and hoping to be selected for the Laser 4.7 squad.

North Wales CYRC: Three years in a row!!!!

For the third year in a row a Bala sailor has won the Topper Gold fleet. Aled in 2009, James in 2010 and again in 2011.

OnBoard Regatta

What an amazing weekend and huge success! Welsh Sailing (WYA) have organised a two day regatta in south Wales for several years called the “Acorn Regatta” at Llangorse lake. Bala was asked to host the inaugural North Wales version. Carole and Phil Smith have put months of work into organising the event. The aim is to give new to sailing juniors a coached first big event experience and hopefully springboard into club racing then attending a CYRC and winter training. We had 78 juniors from all over North Wales competing. Clywedog took the club prize with 14 sailors most whom had only done six half day sessions, that is not even a full learn to sail course!
Experienced racers, in particular squad sailors, were asked to sail a different boat to usual. So Aled raced a Laser Radial, James join Chelsea in the Laser 2000. Well done to Derwynn for winning the Topper silver fleet and Jake for winning the Topper training fleet.

Topper Nationals

Very tough conditions but our sailors all did well! After three days only 2 of the qualifying races had been completed there should have been eight. At times it was pot luck which fleet our sailors would qualify for. The 274 sailors were eventually streamed into Gold, Silver and Bronze. Aled was 24th in Gold Fleet. James 12th in Silver. Chelsea 35th in Silver and Mitch 7th in Bronze.

Bala Sailor 1st Girl at Welsh Schools and Clubs.

Congratulations to Chelsea on coming 2nd overall and first Girl at the Welsh Schools and Clubs Championships. James Guinan was a respectable 6th but watch those Black flags! The event coincided with the Swansea Air show so the fleet had the Red Arrows flying directly above!

Aled Goddard was away in Ireland sailing for RYA Team GBR at the Irish Nationals, 25th overall. The RYA team had their boats loaded on a trailer carrying 8 Toppers and a RIB! The team then flew over to Ireland to compete. While a coach towed the multistacker over to Ireland.

New Event Junior 6 hour Race

Read all about this exciting new event on the 25th August. Downloand the entry form here

Youth Squad: 18th June/ Rescheduled Owen Shaw Shield

Another great turnout! Full results here and click here for a race report.

3rd CYRC

Well done to James (1st) and Chelsea (2nd) at the two day Clywedog CYRC. This is the first CYRC that Clywedog has held and it is sure to be a favorite as it's a great to race, has camping onsite and the hog roast was fabulous. The next CYRC is 17th September at Llandudno the day before our Junior Open.

Bala's International Sailor!

Congratulation to Aled on his selection to represent Team GBR at the Irish Topper Nationals in July.

Welsh Topper Championships

Our Bala Juniors put in a strong performance at the very windy Welsh Topper Championships at LLandegfedd. Aled 4th, James 14th and Chelsea 22nd. The event was dominated by female helms taking all the podium places. Just shows that if you are the right size for the boat it doesn't matter what gender you are.

2nd CYRC

The 2nd CYRC was cancelled due to bad weather and was rescheduled to the 15th May. Well done to Mitch and his first place in the Topper Gold fleet.

Eric Twiname Championships

Well done to Mitch Kneale and James Guinan on their selection for the prestigious Eric Twiname Championships.

"The pinnacle of the RYA’s Junior racing calendar, is now in its 25th year and will see young competitors in over 285 boats and windsurfers pit their sailing skills against the best young talents from each of six English Zones, and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, in a bid to help their Zone or home country team clinch the coveted Eric Twiname Shield at the end of the weekend. "

First CYRC

Well done to Mitch Kneale on his 2nd and James Guinan 3rd at the first CYRC of the year.

Youth Squad Dates

26th March: Great turn out of 8 boats!
16th April: another good turnout
4th June now 18th June
23th July confirmed Head Coach Carole Smith
3rd September As part of the North Wales On Board regatta
15th October lets all go to Shotwick CYRC finale!

Note that youth squad dates are subject to confirmation due to other commitments that Dave and I have

Club Junior Trophies 2011

Owen Shaw Shield 21st May now 18th June

Pugwash Trophy 2nd-3rd July

Junior Cup 21st August

Junior 6 Hour Race 25th August

Junior Open 18th September

2011 CYRC dates

Pwllheli Sunday 3rd April
Rydal Penrhos Colwyn Bay Sat 1st May
Clywedog Sat and Sunday 4th-5th June
Llandudno Sat 17th September
Shotwick Sat 15th October series Finale

Topper Class Associtaion training and open event at Llandudno on 25th and 26th June

Welsh Dates

2011 Topper Dates

Here are the proposed dates and venues for the 2011 Winter Regatta, National Series, Inlands & Nationals. Hope it helps with forward planning for everyone.

Winter Regatta Datchet 29-30 January

NS1 Rutland 9-10 April
NS2 WPNSA 28-29 May
NS3 Derwent 2-3 July
NS4 Pwllheli 10-11 September
Autumn Regatta Poole 8-9 October

Inlands - Grafham - 30th April-1st May

Nationals - North Berwick - 31st July-5th August

All Topper National Squads, both RYA and ITCA (GBR), will be selected using a ranking list based on the results from an indicator series. Full details will be found in the Notice of Selections for the various squads.

The National Squads Indicator Series ranking events for 2011/12 are:

•National Series 2 - 28th & 29th May 2011 at Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy
•National Series 3 - 2nd & 3rd July 2011 at Derwent Sailing Club
•2010 Topper National Championships - 31st July to 5th August 2011 at East Lothian Yacht Club, North Berwick
•National Series 4 - 10th & 11th September 2011 at Pwllheli Sailing Club

To be considered for a National squad place, sailors must attend the National Championships, plus at least two of the available three National Series events (i.e. National Series 2, 3 or 4).

Bala Juniors Selected for RYA and WYA Squads

Congratulation to Aled Goddard for his selection the the RYA Topper National Intermediate Squad. The Intermediate squad feeds into the UK wide National squad that is part of the Team GBR Olympic pathway! An amazing achievement after his first year on the big National Circuit. Also congratulations to James Guinan for his selection to the Welsh National Topper Squad.

CYRC 2010 (North Wales Club Youth Racing Circuit)

The North Wales inter club junior racing series "CYRC" has seen a record breaking attendance in 2010 with 60+ at Bala and Brenig. The Topper fleet was won by James Guinan. Full results

Review of the 2009

2009 has been a great year here is a video of some of the highlights

Here is a video of the highlights of 2009 by the WYA

What do we sail? Mainly single handers such as Toppers, but also a few double handed boats as well. Below is a selection of the classes sailed with links to the class association or manufacturer.

Topper Standard with 5.3 m2 or the smaller 4.2 m2 for lighter helms of around 35-45 kg		Laser Radial
Topper Taz		RS Feva
		The Bala Youth Squad is aimed specifically at the younger generation and welcomes all members under 18 years, (and even some over 18!) regardless of their sailing ability. Our aim is to encourage young people to get into sailing, have fun and develop their boat handling skills and confidence on the water. Youth Squad days are made up of all sorts of fun activities both on and off the water, including games, sailing practice and race training (for those that want to race). Even when we can't sail, normally due to too much or too little wind, we still find other cool things to do!!
Those not yet confident enough to sail on their own will be teamed up with the more experienced sailors who will offer guidance and help show them the ropes. As everyone knows; the more you practice… the better you get! We encourage our more ambitious “Squaddies” to join in with Saturday Club racing and put their skills into practice. There is also an opportunity to help out the race officer and learn how to organise races. Best of all…. meet up with other young people and have FUN. All we ask is that a parent or guardian must be on site at all times and they help with rigging and putting boats away as required.
		Youth Squad mornings start at 10:00hrs, with everyone changed and boats rigged so we can make the most of the day. There will be racing in the afternoon for those that want to join in. Although there is no Squad day planned for August, there will be lots to do during family week so make sure you don’t miss out.