Josh Davies (Year 10) and two friends have been nominated for the Yachts and Yachting Achievement of the Year for breaking Olympian Nick Rodgers’ world record for sailing around the Isle of Wight this summer in Optimist dinghies.
Please vote for Josh and his friends to help them win the award! The voting is open to all. Go to awards.yachtsandyachting.co.uk/vote-now/ and vote for Optimists Round IOW.
Josh, Ella Lance and Ollie Hill broke the 30-year-old record in August this year, following an attempt made by Josh and Ella in 2016. They set off at 4am and battled unexpectedly low winds and monsoon conditions to cross the finish line in 11 hours and 29 minutes, beating Nick Rodgers’ 13 hours and 55 minutes set in 1987.
Josh had decided to attempt the challenge to mark the end of his time sailing Optimist class. An Optimist dinghy is an 8 by 4 foot single-handed boat used by sailors up to the age of 15, although it is not usually sailed in water such as that around the Needles. It is the dinghy that Ben Ainsle, Nick Rodgers and many other top class sailors started racing in.
Josh was in the GB Optimist team 2014-16 and moved on to bigger boats this year. He was part of the Sevenoaks team that won the schools national Under 16 title in 2017.
