Archie Summers Youth award - a word from the winners
 "We were honoured and surprised to receive the Archie Summers Youth Award and we would like to thank all those who had a say in presenting us with it. Also, we would like to apologise for not being present at the Dinner and Dance to receive the award, ironically, we were training. Since getting the 29er, we have been to training and competitions away from Lancing.
At the end of the summer, we went to our first event in the RYA South East Zone Championships at Bewl Valley. In the 29er fleet, we finished 4th with the points extremely close. We also went to the 29er Inland Championships, competing against over 50 other crews. It was a light wind event but we finished respectively for our first major open meeting in testing conditions.
Throughout this winter, we have participated in 8 29er Open Training weekends at Draycote, Grafham and Datchet. It has been great fun and we have learnt a huge amount. It really is worth going to organised class open training, you make loads of new friends and improve your sailing!
Looking ahead, we are hoping to compete at all the major events in 2008, which may include the RYA Youth Championships, the European Championships, a Eurocup Event at Weymouth and the National Championships as well as a number of Class Open Meetings.
The bursary will be put to good use. Our process goals for 2008 are to achieve a top 5 finish in the Silver Fleet at the Youth Nationals, (if we are allowed to attend as the event is in term time and we are both in GCSE year) and to try to obtain a Youth Squad place for the winter of 2008/09.
Finally, we would like to thank Lancing S.C for their support and interest and those members who help launch and recover our 29er."
Matt and Joey
An extra bit from Barry
 "Can I echo Matt and Joey's thanks and assure members that the bursary will be well used in helping to develop their skills.
To put a little background to Matt and Joey may help to understand what they are doing. Matt started in Optimists, attended 14 national Ranking events, and approximately 8-10 open meetings per season. He was a member of the RYA South East Zone Squad and then the RYA/IOCA National Development Squad. He represented his country twice at overseas events.
Members may know more of Joey as he has done most of his sailing at Lancing, sailing his Topper regularly in club racing but not having much experience away from the club. So it was extraordinary for him to take on both the 29er and a campaign of some intensity. Joey and Matt were put together by Jerry Hone, and the Goacher family gently explained to Joey's parents what a 29er campaign would entail. A number of days were spent at Ardingly Reservoir getting to grips with this tango sailed bent plastic flying machine.
The power-to-weight ratio is interesting compared to other popular classes at Lancing:
| RS 200 | 3.94 |
| Laser>> | 3.6 |
| Laser 4000 | 3.36 |
| RS 400 | 3.0 |
| 29er | 2.5 |
As can be seen, the 29er has a challenging power-to-weight ratio and added that Matt and Joey are still light compared with the recommended crew weight the learning curve has been vertical... A challenge then which the boys enjoy but it means sometimes the conditions at Lancing see the boat stays on the beach rather than tie up the Safety Boat.
Progress is being made, they are growing and gaining in confidence. This is a highly technical boat and crew work is paramount.
The bursary will assist in more training which can only lead to improvement. Thank you."
Barry Goacher
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For those of you that couldn't make the club's AGM in November and following the first committee meetings since then, a new page has appeared on this website. See the new 
With the start of the new year, a few pages have been modified on this website.
Before the sailing season starts we will be having our annual cycle ride to get fit for the coming season or for those a little less energetic just to have a nice ride in the country.