TEN new champions were crowned on the final day of the RYA Youth Nationals on the waters of Weymouth and Portland.

In the Laser Radial boys’ fleet, Jack Cookson (Castle Cove SC) and Daniel Whiteley (Pwllheli SC) battled it out all week.

Although Whiteley had a stunning last day with two firsts and a second, it was not quite enough to overcome Cookson’s consistency.

Cookson, who took the title by two points, said: “It feels brilliant. I wasn’t really expecting it coming into the event as I was fourth at the qualifiers, but it’s good.

“I have really improved my starting over the course of the week and had really consistent racing. He (Whiteley) had two bad races and I only had one.”

For the girls, Karyna Manuel (Grafham Water) led the event from day one and finished off with a second to be crowned champion.

Sam Barker (Castle Cove SC) and Victoria Akhurst (Netley SC) continued their supreme form in the Spitfire class, winning both races on the final day to round off a perfect week.

Although the scores paint a picture of an easy week, they were challenged throughout.

Barker explained: “It’s pretty cool. We didn’t think it would happen like this with seven firsts.

“We have had to work for every single one of them but to come out on top again is absolutely fantastic.”

The girls dominated the 420 class, claiming all the podium spots with just a point separating each of them.

In the last race it was all to play for and any of three pairings had the opportunity to take the girls’ title and the overall win.

Jenny Smallwood (Datchet Water SC) and Danielle Thomas (Royal Lymington YC) took the early advantage, rounding the windward mark in first, followed by Katie Davies (Itchenor) and Grace Summers (Emsworth).

Sarah Norbury (South Staffordshire SC) and Mari Davies (Pwllheli SC) looked as if they were out of the game.

But a spectacular first reach from Norbury and Davies put them back in the mix and they finished the race in eighth.

Eighth was enough to beat Davies and Summers but not enough to overhaul Smallwood and Thomas, who led from the start of the race to win the event and become champions.

A disappointing second race for Max Clapp (Royal Southern) and Ross Banham (Bewl Valley SC) put them out of contention for the podium positions.

However, they still had a chance to be the 420 open youth national champions. Their challenge was to put nine points between themselves and Daniel Atherton (Gurnard SC) and Matthew Viney (Cardiff Bay YC).

Clapp and Banham did just that, finishing second in the final race to take the title and fourth overall.

Meanwhile, the 29er fleet couldn’t catch Dan Venables (Sutton) and Patrick Keech (Sutton) as they extended their lead with each day of racing.

The pair finished almost 30 points ahead of Ollie Aldridge (Parkstone YC) and Nathaniel Gordon (Parkstone YC) in second.

Mimi El-Khazindar (Royal Lymington YC) and Emma Loveridge (Royal Lymington YC) started the day in second behind Anna Prescott (HISC) and Eve Townsend (Emsworth/HISC) but managed to overtake their rivals to take the title.

Wilson siblings Daniel and Emma topped the RS:X leaderboard, upgrading their 2014 silver medals to gold.

Henry Wetherell (Beaver SC) and Michael Beckett (Solva) picked up all but one race win between them in the Laser Standard.