Olympic sailor Kate Macgregor inspires South West's best

British Olympian Kate Macgregor visited Chew Valley Sailing Club at the weekend to inspire the next generation of sailors at the 2012 RYA Volvo South West Zone Championships.

More than 100 of the region's top sailors took to the water to compete in the Optimist, Topper and RS Feva XL classes, with the wind picking up on Sunday to provide a challenging final day to the regatta.

Olympian Kate Macgregor shared some tips with the young competitors
ON THE WATER: Action from the Optimist class at the 2012 RYA Volvo South West Zone Championships at Chew Valley

The event was one of nine across the country, with more than 1,200 young sailors taking part.

Macgregor told the South West sailors about her career and the ups and downs of London 2012, where she was part of the British team that lost in the quarter-finals of the Elliott 6m match-racing competition.

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"Today has been a great day of racing at what is such a great venue for the junior sailors to improve and develop within the sport of sailing," said the Team Volvo competitor on Saturday, when she also took to the water to give tips and advice.

"It's great to be able to be involved with the future generation of British sailors. Events like this are so important and a great experience.

"The racing across all three classes has been superb. Sailors were given a good test of their racing ability with tricky shifts in wind and unexpected gusts throughout the day.

"I have no doubt I have just witnessed the next wave of Britain's Olympic hopefuls down here at Chew Valley, which is such an exciting prospect."

Wimbleball Sailing Club's Luke Robertson from Somerton won the Topper class, while James Harris held off Bristol Corinthian team-mate Ryan Bush, both from Axbridge, for the Optimist title.

Hayling Island SC's Elliott Wells and Jake Tood won all six races to triumph in the RS Feva XL class.