FOUR young Cardiff Bay Optimist sailors from Penarth went head to head with 80 of the top ranked Optimist Sailors in the UK over the Bank Holiday weekend.

William Hall, Rhys Lewis, Jamie Cook and Emily Hall joined four of their fellow sailors aged between 11 and 14 to take part in the competition.

The British Selections, possibly the toughest competition of the year, took place over a four-day period in Weymouth at the UK sailing academy where Ben Ainslie famously won his final Olympic Gold medal in 2012.

The event lived up to expectations with strong winds matching the forecast for the majority of the four days with speeds of 22 knots gusting to 28 knots. This competition was extremely challenging especially when you consider that some of the children are only 11 years old and weigh 30kg.

On top of the conditions they are also expected to spend up to six hours per day on the water without coming ashore.

However despite the high pressure and weather conditions the brave sailors certainly did themselves and Cardiff Bay Yacht Club (CBYC) proud with some excellent results.

Once again William Hall of Stanwell High led the charge and finished in fourth place securing a place in the GBR Worlds team for the second year in a row. This means that William will now get to sail in the 2015 World Championships which takes place in Poland in August and will involve approximately 250 sailors from 50 countries.

Just behind Will was Rhys Lewis in seventh position, narrowly missing out of the top five; however he did secure a place in the GBR European team along with Jamie Cook which will take place in Pwllheli in July and is a venue they both know well.

Jamie once again proved to be a star in the making, finishing in 11th place with a fabulous last day and was the top junior by some considerable margin. He said: “It means a lot to be selected for the Europeans, I’m very happy. This is my biggest achievement to date since being selected for the British Optimist National Squad and I’m just going to see how the event goes."

Hot on the boys' heels was Hannah Roberts-Straw who finished 33rd and Emily Hall who finished 42nd which means that they both won places in the GBR Development team and will also get to sail in the European Championships with Rhys and Jamie.

Nick Sawyer, head coach at CBYC, was once again delighted and very proud with the performance of his young sailors although he did say his stress level was off the chart all the way up to the end of the last race.

All the Penarth sailors attend Stanwell High School which probably makes the school the top Optimist Sailing School in the UK.

If you are interested in sailing then please get in touch with Nick Sawyer at CBYC who runs training in the week every Wednesday and Thursday evening over the summer and at weekends over the winter.