News - 2017

14:16 Saturday 5 Aug 2017 Sue Pelling/LCWHat-trick of wins for RS Elite Riff Raff

Freddie Peters takes three impressive Lendy Cowes Week wins – photo Paul Wyeth/LCW

Fourteen-year-old Freddie Peters and his all-star team from Hayling Island Sailing Club has won not only the Young Skipper Trophy, but also the Elite class, and White Group overall.

Peters, sailing Riff Raff with his father Russell – former multiple dinghy champion – sister Emily and family friend Ellie, sailed an impressive series scoring five wins and a third to win the RS Elite class by a huge 12pts from Ossie Stewart 1992 – Olympic Soling bronze medallist/fellow Hayling Island SC member, sailing More T Vicar.

This is the first time Freddie has ever raced at Lendy Cowes Week, and raced a keelboat, and given the fact he is still recovering from a broken arm from just six weeks ago, this result is even more incredible. Freddie, whose usual class is a 29er, was delighted to have had such a success this week.

“I am so, so excited, and it actually seems unreal, I think because it all happened so fast. I can’t believe it is just one week ago since the first race, and now I am celebrating our win.

“I think I can put our win down to a combination of things. Getting a good start was crucial, and knowing where we were going on the course. Thanks to Ellie and Emily who did a fantastic job, we always knew where we were going. The other thing, of course, was boatspeed.

Commenting on tuning, Freddie added: “That was down to my dad. He was in charge of fine tuning and he did a good job!”

Racing at Lendy Cowes Week in big winds is certainly not the place to be nursing a broken arm but for Freddie it didn’t seem to be much of a problem although he did confess to feeling slightly handicapped. “It is getting better but I did struggle a bit and sometimes had to sail with my right arm only, because it was hurting.”

As a 29er sailor, Freddie is used to high-performance sailing but the sort of winds and big seas experienced this week certainly led to some breathtaking moments. “It was so scary at times especially when we got on a roll downwind with the kite up.

“Another scary occasion was when dad got injured when the end of the spinnaker pole almost ended up in his eye, and we had blood everywhere. The most scary time of all though, was when I threw the roll of duck tape overboard and dad gave me a good talking too… won’t do that again in hurry!”