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HARRY’S WARM & COLD
WEATHER SAILING EXPERIENCES
Words Harry Martin
Hi there, my name is Harry Martin and I started sailing when I
was eleven, at Hebe Haven in the Easter holidays of 2012 when
we moved to Sai Kung. Since then I have been to many UK
national and a few international competitions in two different
classes: RS Fevas and RS Teras.
Nationals and the Worlds I sailed with my crew—Matthew
Peckham—and had no problem when the winds approached
30 knots in Carnac because of his height. Although this did
cause him a problem earlier in the year at the Isle of Wight,
when he forgot to duck in a gybe and was thrown in!
When I started sailing, I hadn’t really done any water sports
before and thought it was just going to be a little hobby that
didn’t take much time or effort at all. That thought soon went
completely out the window when I found out that my boarding
school in the UK did it as an all-year-round sport, going to
‘The Worlds’ in both types of boats and generally doing quite
well in them. So, I signed up and started out in RS Teras doing
small racing events and other optional evening races on the
side. Eventually an opportunity arose to go to the Tera Worlds
in June 2013, the venue being Weymouth near Portsmouth,
England, with nine different countries competing against each
other in two different classes: Tera Pro sails (which I was in) and
Tera Sport sails. The pro sailors had fewer people to compete
against—roughly 50—but had larger sails which made life hard
for the smaller people (including me at that time!). On the third
day I got what is known as a ‘port flyer’ off the start line, which
is just starting on port tack and not getting starboarded by the
other boats and I eventually came second in that race, bringing
my overall place down by six places—enough to get me into
the top 20 pro sailors.
At the Feva Worlds in Carnac this summer, we came eighth
overall in the Bronze Fleet, after annoyingly missing qualifying
for the Silver Fleet by just five places! Our final day was our best
with two races, where we got a ninth and an eighth, getting
front line starts both races. The town where we stayed was
really nice, especially as we found an ice cream parlour which
advertised over 160 different flavours of ice cream!
This year I have competed in the RS Feva Nationals, in
Weymouth again, and also recently in the Feva Worlds in
Carnac, France, sailing in the Bay of Biscay. In both the
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At my school, Oakham in Rutland, England, I am lucky enough
to have the facilities of Rutland Water very close by and get to
sail and train there two or three times a week, but this is not as
enjoyable as Hebe during the winter! We train all year round and
have to break the ice to go sailing during the colder spells! All of
us wear a dry suit with several layers on underneath to keep the
cold out but it is sometimes hard to move around in, so we end
up getting cold anyway just from sitting down on the boat. If
the boats aren’t packed away properly we have huge chunks of
ice in the bottom of them which can make it very slippery when
trying to move about which can lead to some nasty falls.
I became an assistant instructor recently and, whilst I enjoy the
sailing in England, I am already looking forward to returning to
Hebe for the 24HR Charity Dinghy Race and the warmth of
Hong Kong, even if it is only for half term.
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