SAILING Sailboat racing has been described as ‘chess on the water’ requiring similar tactical abilities, combined with technical knowledge and boathandling skills to make boats perform at their best. Then there is the physical challenge: sailing requires strength, agility, balance and fitness in order to emerge victorious. An ability to work as a team, cope under pressure and make quick, sound decisions is also important. Developing these skills, while being in the great outdoors and enjoying the camaraderie of the team, make Sailing the ideal sport to try at Radley. Radley boys have been sailing since the 1960s and the sport is currently on the rise again in terms of numbers and performance. This is due to a variety of fortuitous circumstances, such as the fantastic facilities at Farmoor, the variety of boats available to the boys
and the fact that sailing at Radley is now available all year round. As with all sports, however, what really makes a difference are the people involved. Firstly, our intrepid sailors in general – from Shells to 6.2s – who turn out regularly for training and matches no matter how challenging the conditions. Most of all, we are genuinely lucky to have our Coach, George “Yoda” Barker and our Captain, George Chilvers. Both have worked tirelessly to develop a more competitive sailing team over the past couple of years, ably supported by Chris and Dom James, whose expertise has been invaluable in moving things forward. Consequently we have seen a wide variety of sailing events recently, from the Inter-Social Regatta in Fireflies (won for F by Chris James, crewed by Lauren Thomas) to Cowes Week, where George
C (helm), George “Boris” Dillon-Robinson, Kit Merrill and Felix Reynish struck gold, winning the Youth Section of the SB20 Grand Prix. Notable ups and downs in between included losing to old and current Wykhamists at Seaview Regatta twice, the Shell Sailing Days/Swimming Galas in April and September and managing a very respectable 2nd place overall in the Warsash Spring Series. Well done again to George C, whose trusty kite flyers, mainsheet pullers and jib setter at various times were Dom James, Boris D-R, James Chelton, Will MacMillan, Olly Daly and, of course, Yoda. Aside from a number of various matches against local schools, another great highlight was the Itchenor Schools Regatta. Having expected to come last, Olly D crewed by Boris D-R wildly exceeded their own expectations, with a respectable 39th place out of 49 in the Firefly event, while Will Dodd and his trapezing crew/tea bag, George C impressed in their 420, nonchalantly winning the Silver Fleet event. Most excitingly of all, we are going to do it all again this year: ably assisted by our extremely promising crop of Shell sailors - Charlie Spraggs, Richard Butterworth and Will Brooks-Ward. No pressure, boys! Anne Mühlberg Librarian and Head of Sailing
THE RADLEIAN
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