Emily Nagel a product of the Bermuda Optimist Sailing Program was a member of a team of six sailors from Oakham School have won Bronze Medals for Great Britian in the European Team Racing Championships, which took place in Venice.
Nagel was competing in the European Team Racing Championships on the lagoon in Venice. Nagel’s team from her boarding school in the UK came third in both the youth and the open categories.
Nagel’s said, "My succcess has been contributed to the dedicated coaches in Bermuda and the world class sailing programs at all the Bermuda clubs."
The team took part as the Royal Yachting Association’s nominated Great Britain team. “It is a surprise and a great honor for a school team to be invited to sail at this level and the students had no expectations of success” said coach Nick Neve “Two days and nine races later they were delighted to bring home Bronze Medals in both Open and Under 19 categories.”
The competition was organized by the European Sailing Federation and took place on the Venice lagoon in Italy. Racing in Feva two person dinghies, each team was required to have at least one female, though the Oakham Great Britain team had five girls and just one boy. Teams were weighed at registration to make sure they met the strict limit.
Oakham has a history of producing top young sailors. Isabel Scruby (16), Toni Duffy (16), Sarah Kent (15), Ed Lewis (17), Nagel (16) and Anna McCormack (17) have all sailed together in Italy before. Their coach, Nick Neve, said “I put their success down to hard work. Over several years they all put in regular long hours on the water in sun, rain and snow – that practice makes the difference.”
The school team train on Rutland Water at the sailing club. Once again this winter they will run squad training weekends with spaces for other local youngsters. Their next target is to send Rutland sailors to the 2011 Youth World Championships in Ireland next summer.
