This weekend’s (7-8 July) inaugural Volvo RYA Zone Championships saw record numbers of participants with over 1,000 young sailors taking part across the country. Special congratulations should be given to the Southern Zone Championships at Lee on Solent SC where an unprecedented 209 boats took to the water over the weekend.

The aim of these championships is to allow young sailors, of all sailing abilities, to compete in a professionally managed event with a high level of competition without the need to travel long distances. Sailors competing at these Championships also have the opportunity to gain selection into the Volvo RYA Zone Squads 2001/2002.

Parents at the East Zone Championship were treated to an impromptu slide-show presentation from Andy Hindley, who until recently was Number Two on Board Team Philips. His presentation focused how the cat was constructed, the missing hull and how the team was dramatically rescued by a container ship in the Atlantic. Andy, who is now the Racing Manager for the Volvo Ocean Race had this to say about the Volvo RYA Youth Programme.

“It’s marvellous to see so many young talented sailors competing at this event, and it’s brilliant that youth sailing is associated with a such an established company as Volvo who also have such high policies on safety and the environment which are also key elements in sailing.”

2001 is a very exciting year for Volvo and Sailing. At present Great Britain’s most promising youth sailors are competing at the prestigious Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships in France and on September 23 The Volvo Ocean Race formerly the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, starts in Southampton.

“It was wonderful to see so many young sailors competing this weekend. It would be great to see some of the competitors from this weekend going on to represent their country at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships and ultimately Team GBR at future Olympics,” said James Kendall, Sports & Sponsorship Manager at Volvo Car UK.