WSSYSA Junior Regatta Report
Published 18:16 on 25 Sep 2025
Dell Quay Sailing Club Juniors Shine at the 31st WSSYSA regattas held at Itchenor sailing club.
A strong team of juniors from Dell Quay Sailing Club accompanied by Hilary Sparkes and myself Nick Pearson. We had a total of 22 juniors 13 boats travelling down the harbour to Itchenor to compete in this year's 31st West Sussex Schools Youth Sailing Association (WSSYSA) Regatta, joining young sailors from across the county for a packed day of racing. With fleets ranging from Rookies to Fast Handicap, the regatta provided challenges for all levels of experience - and DQSC sailors rose to the occasion with huge enthusiasm.
Saturday saw 10-15 kts gusting 17kts at times with the wind going back and forth between SW and S more times than a ping pong match. These conditions made the windward mark position a bit tricky with Hilary and I moving it numerous times. The wind shifted so much we used the previous race wing mark as the new windward mark. With the odd shower and a very cloudy and grey day this didn't dampen the spirits of the Dell quay juniors as some wonderful racing was watched.
Sunday saw slightly easier winds of 10kts gusting 13kts but with a colder NEE direction it brought with is some lovely partially cloudy skies and what turned out to be a beautiful day on the water. With a simple triangle course set up for the rookie and slow fleet just off Cobnor point. The juniors soon found out that a spring tide was a force to be reckoned with. As the day went on the rookie and slow fleet were just getting the idea of the effects of the tide when it spun round and started to ebb out.
With the wind slowing down this made for a rather alarming journey back to Itchenor with many juniors just about able to fight the tide but going nowhere fast!
The medium and fast fleet had a windward - leeward race course with a start/finish middle gate they had to sail through. This was setup further down the harbour between Wear to the north and Peacock to the south. They saw some very competitive racing. The Dell quay juniors who were in the fast fleet were sailing in the wake of a GBR topper sailor who won over all in the fast fleet. A great experience to be able to watch and learn from.
The regatta saw a mixture of light and shifty winds, testing boat handling, teamwork, and determination. Highlights for DQSC included a race win for Freddie Pearson & Sofia Hilary in the RS Feva medium fleet, consistent top-half finishes from Harry Farrands in his Laser Pico, with several brave performances from our Rookie sailors tackling their first county-level regatta.
With Hilary and I on safety boat duty for both days we were rather busy on Saturday with the rookie and slow fleet. We helped customers who may or may not of decide to talk to the fish or inspect the underwater profile of their racing craft mid race, to picking up 4ft long floating fence posts and the odd baseball cap. We did have to deal with a slightly vexed anchored power boat owner who was all of a sudden surrounded by 41 dinghy's and an impatient 50ft yacht who thought going in front of the start line in the middle of the fleet was a good idea. This prompted a couple of visits from the friendly harbour master who was busy keeping things safe with the 89 dinghy's out on the water. Our day was broken up periodically by a familiar voice over the radio from the Dell quay firefly open organisation team. I do hope the mark was moved 100m further down towards Chichester SC for you Peter.
We did unfortunately have to come to the aid of Lewis Sparkes and his crew Sidney Shirley on their Feva as we noticed a slight sinking feeling. The bung itself, decided to talk to the fishes but thankfully it was held on by a piece of string. Despite sinking slowly and with the bung's conversation interrupted and put back to work, Lewis and his crew managed to get home albeit a little slower. Despite this they were still able to come 21st.
The results for the Dellquay juniors are as follows:
Fast Handicap Fleet:
- Theo Nichols & William Whittaker (Laser 2000, Sail No. 2851) - 16th overall
- Archie Pearson (Laser 4.7, Sail No. 172691) - 18th overall
- Gloria Smith & Lottie Sparkes (420, Sail No. 53983) - 24th overall
Theo Nichols & William Whittaker
Archie Pearson
Gloria Smith & Lottie Sparkes
Medium Handicap Fleet
- Freddie Pearson & Sofia Hilary (RS Feva, Sail No. 6393) - 5th overall
- Rory Parret & Oliver Rutter (RS Feva, Sail No. 662) - 13th overall
- Beatrix Hack & Georgina Hitchin (RS Feva, Sail No. 2480) - 14th overall
Freddie Pearson & Sofia Hilary
Rory Parret & Oliver Rutter
Beatrix Hack & Georgina Hitchin
Slow Handicap Fleet
- Harry Farrands (Laser Pico, Sail No. 10695) - 7th overall
Harry Farrands
Rookie Fleet
- William Hitchin & Ben Gentle (Laser Pico, Sail No. 4) - 13th overall
- Felix Hack & Milo Nichols (Laser Pico, Sail No. 9665) - 19th overall
- Lewis Sparkes & Sidney Shirley (RS Feva, Sail No. 5564) - 21st overall
- Freddie William-Heggs & Raffy Nichols (Laser Pico, Sail No. 17) - 24th overall
William Hitchin & Ben Gentle
Felix Hack & Milo Nichols
Lewis Sparkes & Sidney Shirley
Freddie William-Heggs & Raffy Nichols
Every Dell Quay junior showed resilience and enthusiasm, embodying the club's spirit on and off the water. For many, it was their first taste of big-fleet competition, and their achievements drew well-deserved cheers from parents and supporters on shore.
We did have Zachary Williams-Heggs and Grace Gentle who sailed on Sunday in a pico in the slow fleet. Grace was at the helm and Zachary was crew as he was sporting a fractured finger after having an argument with a hammer. Zachary assured us the hammer came of worse. We also have Dylan Woodhouse who decided to go out in a Feva by him self due to his crew Amelie Park falling ill just before the regatta but a Feva is a bit tricky to race effectively single handed so Dylan bowed out on Sunday.
At the prize giving, we saw Dell Quay juniors up on the stage. Freddie Pearson and Sofia Hilary receive a well deserved 5th place trophy and Archie Pearson won the Russell Moore memorial trophy as well. This trophy is awarded for exceptional contribution to youth sailing.
The club nominated Archie Pearson because he has been the driving force for the junior racing, he has led by example by being the only junior back in 2022 to race in the frost bite series alongside the solo fleet in his topper, his dedication set a powerful precedence. By Archie asking a simple question, "why isn't there any racing for juniors?" this was the spark that was needed to ignite a movement. This movement was what was needed to drive change in the club. Archie is the reason for the race coaching initiative and the 'Start Racing' course at junior week this year for the first time ever. Thanks to Archies passion for racing, the foundation for the junior race team is now in place, the subsequent policies and other paperwork needs to be finalized but thanks to Archie, he has been the catalyst the club needed.
Thanks go to the WSSYSA organisers, race teams, safety boat crews, and all the volunteers who made the regatta possible. Most of all, congratulations to the DQSC juniors on a fantastic set of results - the club is proud of every single one of you.
Full results can be viewed here:
