A TEAM of teenage racers from Thorpe Bay Yacht Club have come out on top in one of the most elite forms of dinghy racing.

The youngsters – Sam Laleberti, Jacob Allard, Vicky and Millie Little, Genevieve Bailey and Harry Boygle – took on and beat a team from Eton in a team racing contest at the weekend.

Team racing is usually the preserve of top universities and the best public schools in the country.

But a move to widen the competition’s appeal to state schools resulted in this friendly fixture being staged against Eton.

Thorpe Bay YC stalwart Nick Alston – a former teacher at Eton – set up the event and said that he was delighted with the way the south Essex youngsters had squared up to the home team.

He said: “Team racing is a highly tactical and occasionally quite aggressive form of sailing where the idea is to use the rules to dominate opposition boats.

“The Thorpe Bay team – plus others in the squad – had spent many hours on the water this year learning the tactics and how to get an advantage.

“They were quite nervous before the racing began, but once they got on the water and put the training into practice they started to enjoy it. I was very proud of them and how they did.”

The racing was held at Bray Lake near Windsor and the Essex youngsters, who race together at home as part of the club’s growing RS Feva dinghy class, in light winds and bright sunshine. Alston said: “They practised their team racing skills in the school’s Firefly dinghies during the morning, ready to race the Eton boys after lunch.

“The starts were tight, with everyone on the line in a rising wind. By the first mark we managed a leading combination in most races – however this needed to be maintained on the forthcoming reaches and run.”

Throughout the day many of the short races were held with crews jockeying for position at the start and then doing their best to “legally” sail their rivals into impossible positions, wind shadows or force them to sail in their own “dirty air” behind a Thorpe Bay boat.

With all the crews using virtually identical dinghies it came down to knowledge of the rules, an aggressive attitude and slick teamwork to win the competition.

Alston said: “The Thorpe Bay team used some very cunning team racing moves to succeed and win the match overall.”

And now that the Essex team – who this year have also been successful in Southend’s own Inter-Club Cadet team racing event – will be hoping to be able to take on one of the even higher ranked Eton teams who race at a more senior level.