SAILING’S BEST

The British Yachting Awards took place at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, Knightsbridge, on 30 November, with the winners announced in 13 categories, the results of six weeks of voting – and almost 20,000 votes cast – by the readers of Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting. Thankyou to everybody who voted. The shortlists for each category were published in our November 2021 issue and nominations included some of the biggest names in sailing, alongside amateur yachtsmen and youth sailors. A roomful of sailing VIPs gathered at the Royal Thames YC for the ceremony – an audience ranging from Olympians and solo circumnavigators, to naval architects and boat builders, to weekend sailors and some of our subscribers who took advantage of the opportunity to pay for a ticket. Presenter was the magazine’s group editor Rob Peake, who said: “The British Yachting Awards celebrates the best of the cruising and racing worlds over the last 12 months. For sailors and for the marine industry, it turned out to be a spectacular year.” Rob introduced the evening’s guest speaker, Ian Walker, the RYA’s Director of Racing. He thanked the event’s sponsors – BoatLife Live, GAC Pindar, Pantaenius and Davey & Co, which made the trophies (see opposite). The ceremony was live streamed and remains available to watch on on Yachts & Yachting Facebook and via our dedicated website britishyachtingawards.com

Guest speaker Ian Walker

Guest speaker at the British Yachting Awards was the RYA’s Director of Racing Ian Walker, who gave a personal insight into his role leading the sailing team in Tokyo. He quipped: “I’d love to be able to take all the credit for what happened in Tokyo, but unfortunately I can’t do that – my main role out there was driving the athletes to the venue and back each day in a RIB.” He praised the whole team, saying: “Normally in at any Olympics there is at least one major drama, but the amazing thing about Tokyo was that everything went to plan. Just getting there was a massive achievement. We did over 1,700 Covid tests, between the sailors and support staff, in the three weeks before we left and while we there. Just one positive test would have derailed the whole team, so the responsibility involved for everybody in ensuring we got there was immense.” Ian spoke about the development of grassroots sailing, saying: “When you look at our gold medallists, there is little similarity in their backgrounds, except that all of them were strong at youth level. So we’re desperately looking now at how we can keep attracting strong sailors with different experiences. I’m a big believer in sailing different boats, doing club races, sailing double-handed, getting all sorts of experiences that build you as a sailor. That’s getting harder to do because club racing is declining. While club membership is strong, the actual core of racing is struggling – not everywhere, but in general, it’s harder to get people to turn out for the weekly races. That’s the other half of my job – not the Olympics, but about the health of our sport, about clubs, volunteers, about how can I leave my role knowing that other people will get the same that I had or better. I know many of you to find out how the RYA can support your sailing club.