Over 230 of the UK’s top young sailors descended on Pwllheli for the 2025 RYA Youth National Championships, where new champions were crowned after a week of varied and challenging race conditions.
Held over the Easter break (14–18 April) at Plas Heli – the Welsh National Sailing Academy – the event showcased the country’s brightest up-and-coming talent across six youth classes: 420, Nacra 15, 29er, ILCA 6, ILCA 7 and the high-octane iQFOiL windfoilers.
Chris Marsh made it a Youth Nationals three-peat, adding a second consecutive ILCA 7 title to his ILCA 6 victory from 2023, while Alexander Meadway (iQFOiL), Amelie Hiscocks (29er) and the 420 pairing of Sabine Potter-Merle Nieuwland also earned their second national titles.
The final day of the event once again featured Olympic-style medal races, with the 420, 29er and ILCA 6 male and female fleets finishing with final-day top ten showdowns, while the iQFOiL fleet took on a dynamic knockout final series similar to that used at senior international events.
Competitors and event volunteers were also treated to a visit from Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, RYA President, during the five-day event.
Oli Woodcock, RYA Youth Racing Manager, reflected on the week: “It’s been a testing week with some very tough conditions, but we’ve witnessed some incredible determination, adaptability, camaraderie and sportsmanship across the fleets. Our congratulations go to all the medallists across the classes, and to our amazing event volunteers for their incredible help and support.”
420
The title chase in the 420 event went to the wire, with Joseph Jones-Hennie Burlton’s (Burghfield SC/Royal Southern YC) medal race win seeing them tied on points with pre-regatta favourites William Fletcher-Matthew Rayner (Royal Southern YC/Yorkshire Dales SC) but claiming the title by virtue of their superior medal race position.
Just four points behind silver, Sabine Potter-Merle Nieuwland (Warsash SC/CBYC) picked up the overall bronze medal and were also the top-ranked female crew for the second year in a row. India Eastwood-Isla Fletcher (Itchenor SC/Royal Southern YC) and Tabitha Davies-Sophia Sfaxi (Royal Lymington YC/Trearddur Bay SC) completed the female podium spots.
Hennie: “It feels really, really good. Really good to end a week-long event on a high.”
Merle: “It was pretty good. We’ve definitely had breeze on for the last two days. The wind picked up for the last race today and we quite enjoyed ourselves!”
29er
Welsh pairing Jac Bailey-Ben Sinfield (Clwb Hwylio Y Felinheli Port Dinorwic SC) continued their run of strong form in the class with a convincing victory in Pwllheli. Placing first or second in nine out of the 12 opening series races, they finished off their week with a fourth place in the medal race which handed them the event victory with a 26-point margin.
Dirk Rogers-William McEwen (Royal Lymington Yacht Club) claimed silver with Joe Armstrong Rowland-Sam Armstrong Rowland (Royal Southern Yacht Club) just a point behind in third.
Lila Edwards-Amelie Hiscocks (Parkstone YC/WPNSA) missed out on the overall podium spots by just 0.5pts to finish in fourth overall but were crowned female national champions and with it a second straight title for Amelie who won the 2024 event alongside Annabelle Vines.
Ben: “In the medal race we just had to stay in the front bit of the [medal race] fleet to win, so it was about not doing anything stupid and keeping it calm, play it safe. We’ll now try and get a good result at the Europeans and Worlds so we’ll ramp up the training for the summer events.”
Amelie: “We’re feeling pretty good. We’re a little bit disappointed after the medal race as we went in third with a chance of getting second but we dropped out of the [overall] podium to fourth. But we’re still really happy with the week. We still came out as first girls and still fourth in the UK so we’re pretty happy.”
ILCA
Chris Marsh (Royal Hospital School) made it a hat-trick of Youth Nationals wins with a second successive victory in the ILCA 7, having stepped up to the bigger rig after his ILCA 6 victory in 2023.
Poppy Luxton’s (Restronguet SC) six race wins from the opening series in the ILCA 6 female fleet, plus victory in the medal race, saw her claim the event title ahead of Felicity Angell (Draycote Water SC) and Ellie Thwaites (Norwich School).
Toby Waggett (Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club) posted a similar scoreline in the ILCA 6 male event. Six race wins out of nine opening series races plus a medal race victory saw him claim the national title by 19 points ahead of Cameron McDaid (Largs Sailing Club) in second and Nathan Clark (Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club) in third.
Poppy said: “[It’s] Amazing! Just amazing. I’ve never had a regatta that’s gone well consistently, so it’s really good. [The medal race] was just about sailing your own race, focusing on boat speed.”
Toby said: “It feels really good. It’s been a really tricky week so it feels nice to finally be finished and get the results on the scoreboard. I went into the medal race a little bit worried just to make sure I didn’t get any jury flags or anything and tried to stay out of any mess.”
iQFOiL
It was a podium clean sweep for Parkstone Yacht Club riders with Alexander Meadway justifying his pre-regatta favourite status to claim overall victory and a second Youth Nationals title to add to his 2023 win.
Milo Shaw claimed silver with Galahad Bye picking up bronze, while Sophie Clark (ASC Portsmouth) was crowned female national champion.
Alexander said: “[It was a] tricky event to stay consistent in with a range of wind and waves, but really pleased I pulled it all together to come away with the win.”
Nacra 15
Visiting teams from Belgium, competing as part of the class’s SuperSeries, proved the ones to beat on Cardigan Bay, claiming the top three podium positions. Hannelien Borghuis-Sander Borghuis (Royal Belgian Sailing Club) didn’t finish outside of the top three in any of their 13 races to top the table at the end of the week.
Marcus King-Maddie Jinks (Warsash Sailing Club/Plym Yacht Club) were the top-ranked home pairing, finishing fifth overall, with Will Boalch-Eliza Pritchard (Plym Yacht Club/Exe Sailing Club) and Finn Caddy-Jess Patterson completing the British podium standings.
Full results are available on the RYA Youth Nationals website.
