CADET Week, despite being batterd by strong winds, was a great a success.

The event held on the waters off Mersea Island, which is run by Dabchicks Sailing Club and West Mersea Yacht Club, saw 163 young sailors, aging from eight to 18 years old, compete during the week.

The competitors are spilt into inside and outside fleets, with further subdivisions in each group.

The inside fleet is made up of the younger sailors in optimist dinghies, split into Diamond, Emerald and Ruby, which is based on sailing ability and age.

The outside fleet includes Gold (optimists) and the slow, medium and fast handicaps, the older sailors in the single and doublehanded boats.

The first day of racing last Monday was disrupted by stong winds, that saw gusts of up to 25 knots, and only saw Ruby fleet managed to get some racing in.

The inclement weather hung around during the week but the young sailors didn’t let it affect them too much and battled the elements and each other out on the water.

Cadet Week Chairman Will Crossley said: “Fairly safe to say that the Mersea Cadet Week of 2013 ran exceedingly well, given the weather conditions of the week.

“The outside fleet had plenty of wind and the Principle Race Officer of Roger Sydenham and his team set excellent courses every day. “The Inside fleet had Simon Clifton, an ex-cadet himself, as Race Officer, who also set some smaller courses in the Creeks, where the younger children were protected from the main elements.

“At the end of the week, we had a best of the best raced in the local sailing Duck Punts, sailed and rowed, won by Hamish Eckstein.”

The week was rounded off last Friday by a prizegiving evening held on the Yacht Club lawn and Peter Bessie of Essex Helicopters, one of the week’s sponsors, organised an Air Display before the trophies were handed out.

Presenting the week’s winners their silverware was Simon Talbot, skipper of the Great Britain entry in the 2013 Clipper Round the World Race.

Talbot started sailing in the waters around Mersea at the age of six.

OUTSIDE FLEET Fast Handicap: 1 (Musto Skiff) Gavin Page 13.0, 2 (Laser) Matthew French 17.0, 3 (Rs 400) Dan Woodcock & Rigs Dando 19.5, 4 (Wayfarer) Jack Trollope & Edward Baker 33.5, 5 (Laser) Henry Seifert 38.0, 6 (Musto Skiff) Harry Gozzett 39.0, 7 (29er) Hamish Cock & Tom Crossley 46.0, 8 (Laser) Joseph Philo Powell 49.0, 9 (Laser) Celyn Evans 59.0, 10 (29er) Izi Ditchburn & Katie Harding 83.0.

Medium Handicap: 1 (Laser Radial) Hamish Eckstein 8.0, 2 (Laser 4.7) David Labrouche 16.0, 3 (Rs Feva Xl) Georgia Grice & Rosie Barnes 28.0, 4 (Laser 4.7) Jonny Watkins 29.0, 5 (Laser 4.7) Rupert Watkins 41.5, 6 (Laser 4.7) Robert Green 50.0, 7 (Laser 4.7) Euan Chess 55.0, 8 (Laser Radial) Joshua Tierney 57.0, 9 (Laser 4.7) Charlie Marshal 61.0, 10 (Laser 4.7) George Holroyd 65.5, 11 (Laser Radial) Emma Smith 77.0, 12 (Laser 4.7) Paddy Woodcraft 79.0, 13 (Laser 4.7) Hope Gozzett 81.5, 14 (Laser 4.7) Robert Crossley 87.0, 15 (Rs Feva XL) Rosie Tarleton & Sophie Sunderland 113.0; 16 (Rs Feva XL) Lily Ashmore & Evie Kettlewell 120.0; 17 (Laser 4.7) David Hill 124.0; 18 (Rs Feva Xl) Ellie Trollope & Lottie Porter 126.5, 19 (Laser Radial) William Porter 130.0, 20 (Laser 4.7) Angus Eckstein 137.0, 21 (Rs Feva XL) Fergus Cock & Toby Wickes 137.5, 22 (Rs Feva XL) Zoe Evers & Emma Main 157.0, 23 (Rs Feva XL) Laetitia Corbett & Hattie Sunderland 173.5, 24 (Rs Feva XL) Beth Sharpe & Georgia Catchpole 177.0, 25 (Rs Feva XL) Sam Cohen & Abi Cohen 178.5, 26 (Rs Feva XL) Jessica Sydenham & Tia Harding 182.5, 27 (Laser Radial) Harrison Phillips-pearce 203.0, 28 (Rs Feva XL) Elizabeth Philpott & Lucie Latham 209.0, 29 (Laser Radial) Holly Britton 216.0, 30 (Laser Radial) Maisie Eldridge 222.0.

Slow Handicap: 1 (Topper) Tim Crossley 15.0, 2 (RS Tera Sport) Tom Brown 16.5, 3 (RS Tera Pro) Joshua Green 25.0, 4 (RS Tera Pro) Edward Holroyd 26.0, 5 (Topaz Duo) Anna Gilbert & Heather Norman 32.0, 6 (RS Tera Sport) Joshua Davies 41.0, 7 (Topper) Jonny Barnes 41.5, 8 (Topper) Isaac Johnson 59.0, 9 (Topper) Tim Mayer 61.0, 10 (Topaz Uno) Jessica Mary Ellis 64.0, 11 (RS Tera Pro) Edward Gibson 89.0, 12 (Laser Pico) Erin Boyd 95.0, 13 (Laser Pico) Hattie Dumas 102.0, 14 (RS Tera Pro) Jack Sydenham 117.0, 15 (Topper) Lily Smith 120.0, 16 (Topper) Charlie Jacobs 120.0, 17 (Topaz Duo) Morgana Chess & Laila Marfleet 128.0, 18 (Topper) Tom Paramor 134.0, 19 (Topper) Elise Chandler 138.0, 20 (Topper) Madeleine Jacobs 160.0, 21 (Laser Pico) Sam Gosling & Grant Bibby 176.0.

Gold Fleet (Optimist): 1 James Brosnan Wren 8.0, 2 Charles Gayton 15.0, 3 Ryan Bailey 28.0, 4 Joe Purdie 32.0, 5 William Gibson 32.0, 6 Freddie Rogers 40.0, 7 Lucy Philpott 50.0, 8 Douglas Cock 52.0, 9 Amy Struth 69.0, 10 Archie Harris 73.0, 11 Katie Millar 75.0, 12 Gabriella Clifton 76.0, 13 Oliver Latham 90.0, 14 Henry Gayto 100.0, 15 Edward Latham 102.0, 16 Lucy Newman 119.0, 17 Daniel Pittock 129.0.

INSIDE FLEET (Optimist): Ruby: 1 Charlie Brown 42.0, 2 Cameron Dix 43.0, 3 Emily Sanderson 46.0, 4 Max Harris 56.0, 5 Eddie Harris 58.0, 6 Max Davonport 60.0, 7 Joe Hayhurst 70.0, 8 Jamie Bellamy-Booth 72.0, 9 Tess Woodcraft 77.0, 10 Drew Bessey 86.0, 11 Ben Milgate 102.0, 12 Zeb Milgate 106.0, 13 Ben Phillips 108.0, 14 Kitty Jordon 116.0, 15 Natasha Fuller 142.0, 16 Isabelle Mayer 154.0, 17 Jordon Bellamy-Booth 159.0, 18 Ella Cohen 163.0, 19 William Sanderson 163.0, 20 Oliver Jacklin 172.0, 21 Zack Chandler 181.0, 22 Phoebe Millar 194.0, 23 Oliver Davonport 217.0.

Emmerald: 1 Cameron Higgins 21.0, 2 Thomas Williams 29.0, 3 Madison Allen 31.0, 4 Nuala Brosnan Wren 44.0, 5 Theo Clifton 47.0, 6 Willa Rogers 48.0, 7 Demelza Johnson 52.0, 8 Daniel Milgate 68.0, 9 Thea Taylor 69.5, 10 Lucy Evers 75.0, 11 Zara Mayer 76.0, 12 Mae Yeates 82.0, 13 Imogen Hayhurst 92.0, 14 Jemima Tarleton 111.0, 15 Oliver Lindup 111.0, 16 Henry Phillips 118.0, 17 Toby Holmes Lord 120.0, 18 Amy Palfreyman 141.0, 19 Zoe Cohen 147.0, 20 Mary Richardson 149.0, 21 Orla Clifford 153.0, 22 Beth Fleetwood 159.0.

Diamond: 1 Tom Struth 10.0, 2 Eloise Fuller 11.0, 3 Jack Gibson 16.0, 4 Daisy Weston 20.0, 5 Harry Blackmore 21.0, 6 Laura Ferneyhough 26.0, 7 Allegra Martin 37.0, 8 Alannah Murrell 40.0, 9 Lily Marr 49.0, 10 Francesca Catchpole 53.0, 11 Eleanor Jacobs 56.0, 12 Harry Button 74.0.

HANNAH STODEL TROPHY (for tenacity): Madeline Jacobs.

SEAMANSHIP TROPHY: Mathew French.