MORE than 1,000 of the UK’s best young sailors took part in the RYA Zone Championships held at various locations around the UK.

Eight venues hosted events with sailors battling blustery autumnal weather.

The South and South West sailors were met with a challenging winds at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.

Luckily Olympic gold medallist Saskia Clark and Laser Radial World Champion Ali Young were on hand to give their top windy weather tips in the boat park.

The Topper fleet saw some very close sailing with just four points separating the top three sailors with Angus Kemp (Poole YC) first, followed by Milly Jinks (Saltash SC) in second and local sailor Will Adler (Castle Cove SC) in third.

In the RS Tera fleet Jack Oakley (Royal Hospital School) won with four race wins.

The RS Feva winners were Jamie Allen and Chris Clark (HISC), followed by Rupert Jameson and Ossian Bracegirdle (HISC) and Sophie Dennis and Delphine Ala (HISC, Emsworth) in third with two points between them.

The Optimist fleet was won by William Heathcote (Royal Lymington YC) on two points, with Kieran Young (Spinnaker SC) and James Foster (Poole YC) tied on five points in second and third respectively. Julia Staite (HISC) was the first girl.

The windsurfers had some exciting sailing in the conditions with Jaycob Green (Watersports Academy) and Daisy Illingworth (Oxford SC) tied on four points in the 4.5m class, while the 5.8m class was led by Archie York (Croft Farm Flyers) and Bella Thompson (BCYC) in second.

The 6.8m event saw Finn Hawkins (Porthpean SC) first with four race wins and Izzy Adcock in second.

The 7.8m class saw Jeremy Whale (Porthpean SC) with a perfect score line and Kate Hatcher in second with four second places.

The regatta fleet launched to sail in the protection behind the marina wall and the Optimist fleet was dominated by the girls with Lila Edwards (Parkstone), Ella McWilliam (WSC/RSYC/LRYC) and Gwen Sargent (Emsworth) in the top three positions.

The Tera fleet was led by Tommy Millard (Emsworth) and the Toppers by Harris Goodman (Hill Head).

The forecast the next day proved too much for the sailors and the fleets were held ashore.

With no signs of the wind conditions improving, Olympic gold medallist Giles Scott popped down to WPNSA to sign buoyancy aids and hand out the medals at the prize giving.