Some of them only stepped into a boat for the first time a few weeks ago but that didn’t stop youngsters from five schools across Northampton enthusiastically taking part in the 2011 Northampton Watersports Centre Schools Regatta on Wednesday (29 June).

The event was open to all kids who have learned to sail through RYA OnBoard, the nationwide grassroots scheme providing youngsters from local schools, community and youth groups with opportunities to sail regularly at low cost, during this summer term.

A competition between five local schools, each school was allowed to enter two boats each, which could be sailed by just one sailor or two people, with the aim of giving the youngsters, who have all regularly attended Saturday morning OnBoard sessions at Northampton Watersports Centre, the chance to take part in fun races and test out their new skills.

The top prize went to Northampton School for Boys’ Will Evans, 13, who won one and came second in two races, while Will’s schoolmate Harvey Ryan, also 13, finished second overall with 15-year-old Baz Hill from Northamptonshire Grammar School in third.

With the results of each school’s sailors added together Northampton School for Boys was crowned top school, closely followed by Northamptonshire Grammar School. The other competing schools were Brixworth Primary School and Caroline Chisholm School. Both Northamptonshire Senior and Junior Grammar Schools took part.

Jon Sweet, RYA OnBoard Development Officer for Northamptonshire, said: “I was impressed by the competitiveness of all the sailors, wanting to do well themselves and encouraging others from their school, it was a real team effort in some cases and it paid off! I really hope to see some of these kids back at Pitsford Reservoir soon improving their sailing and maybe even racing in one of the RYA junior racing squads in future.”

Last year alone, another 500 Northamptonshire kids got their first taste of sailing and windsurfing through OnBoard with some 30 schools in the county now linked to the scheme

Over 10 years OnBoard aims to introduce a minimum of 500,000 children to sailing and windsurfing in the UK, converting more than 10 per cent into regular participants.

If you are interested in getting your school, youth organisation or community group involved in RYA OnBoard contact Jon Sweet at jonsweet@northamptonwatersports.com while more details about RYA OnBoard can be found at www.ruob.co.uk