2021 KSSA Opening Splash Regatta at Downs Sailing Club
by Jon Bentman 5 May 12:11 BST
1 May 2021
The 2021 Opening Splash Regatta on May 1st was a much-welcomed return to sailing for the Kent Schools Sailing Association. Incredibly it's been over 20 months since the KSSA has been able to run a regatta and after a belly full of zoom coaching sessions and virtual regattas the youth sailors were super keen to at last return to the real thing.
Sun, blue skies and a seven-knot breeze greeted some 39 youth sailors in 32 dinghies at Downs Sailing Club (in Deal, Kent). With approaching two years since their last regatta many of the youth had changed - grown, of course - arguably none more so than Harry Newton from Whitstable YC, last seen in a Topper now a sky-scraping 6'4" and sailing a full rig Laser, having skipped the 4.7 and Radial stepping stones through Lockdown! Likewise many others were racing new boats for the first time in a fleet that ranged from an Optimist to a 29er.