Optimist National Sailing Championships

---

Congratulations to Ben Hutton-Penman (Year 3) and his brother and sister, James (Year 10) and Kathryn (Year 8), who all competed in the Optimist National Championships over the summer holiday. These were held at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy, the home of the 2012 Olympic Sailing event.

Ben was one of the youngest to compete in the whole event and sailed in the Starter fleet. He sailed superbly and finished 5th in his fleet and also won a prize in the main prize-giving. Many of the Olympic sailors, including Ben Ainslie, attended both the event and training for most of the week. In fact, Ben even managed to shake hands with him and share some sailing experiences!

James qualified to sail in the Senior Gold fleet and finished 38th. This was a good result against some of the best young sailors in the world. He finished as the 16th British sailor out of 37 of those who qualified for the Senior Gold fleet.
 
Kathryn qualified in the Silver Junior fleet and her second 6 races were almost all top 10 finishes, including a number of top 5 finishes. She finished in 3rd place and won a prize at the main prize giving.