Silver medals for local sailing duo at European Championships

Female sailors Jess Lavery and Georgie Mothersele, from Emsworth Sailing Club, claimed the silver medal at the 2011 Open 420 Junior European Championships in Nieuwpoort, Belgium.

While other Great Britian team members Annabel Vose and Megan Brickwood, and Tim Gratton and Ed Riley both secured bronze.

A number of Great Britian boats made the trip over to Belgium for the fiercely-contested regatta which welcomed 101 teams from 20 different nations.

With strong ambitions in the British camp to put the record straight after disappointing results at the 420 European Championships in Tavira last month, and with the sailors using the 2011 Flanders Regatta as preparation for this event, it was Lavery and Mothersele who lead the charge as they sealed the silver medal in the female fleet.

The 17-year-olds had a solid start to the regatta posting consistent scores in the opening stages, however were edged out of the top spot by the Italian boat of Giulia Lantier and Martha Faraguna, who took the Ladies 420 Open European Championships title.

With a tense final day of racing the pair, who recently finished fifth at the 420 European Championships, managed to hold their nerve in the only race of the day to secure second place.

Lavery said: “We are very pleased with the silver medal. We started the week of really well in the stronger breeze and it was great to be competing at the top of the fleet with the guys as they are a lot heavier than us, so to keep up with them was excellent.”

“Our main aim going into the regatta was to make the final gold fleet as we knew there were going to be three fleets so to make gold was our main priority.”

The pair recently returned from Zadar where they were representing RYA Volvo Team GBR at the ISAF Youth Worlds.

Lavery added: “We have had a great summer in terms of results and are very happy with our performance at the three key events which we have competed in. Up next for us are the Nationals next week and then a well-deserved rest.”

Reigning 420 Ladies World Champions Annabel Vose and Megan Brickwood, who were one of the four female teams in the open gold fleet, finished nine points behind their British counterparts to clinch the bronze medal.

Duncan Truswell, RYA Youth Racing Manager, commented: “This is another great result for our young GBR 420 sailors, following on from solid performances at the Worlds in January, Kiel Week, Flanders regatta, the ISAF Youth Worlds and a challenging Europeans in Tavira.

“The RYA Volvo 420 National Youth Squad has some real talent at the moment and it is notable that these sailors only recently came out of the Optimist and quickly made a successful transition to the 420.”

For more information about the 420 European Championships and for full results visit www.420sailing.org