Suffolk teenager Josie named Young Sailor of the Year

A Suffolk student with a passion for sailing has capped an extraordinary year in the sport by being honoured with a prestigious award.

Seventeen-year-old Josie Ruffles was named Young Sailor of the Year by the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association after completing this year’s Fastnet Race.

By competing in the race she followed in the footsteps of her brother Toby, who competed in 2017.

The prize giving was supposed to be in Ostend, Belgium recently, following the final race of the season, the Buckley Goblets, which involved Josie and her father racing across the North Sea for the sixth time this year.

In a year of accomplished racing and success, Josie has also crossed the Irish Sea twice and undertaken around 2,000 miles of hard yacht racing, including winning the Wallis Cup, in which she skippered the boat.

The final race proved tough with a force 6-7 wind and waves of four metres, but Josie battled on and completed it in nine hours.

The forecast for the return on Saturday suggested even higher winds, so the presentations were postponed until the annual dinner in November, allowing the yachts to turn around quickly and head back to the UK. Sadly, the forecast was wrong, and the high winds hit the sailors in the middle of the North Sea, making it very rough with winds of over 40 knots.

Josie and her father experienced damage to their mainsail and Genoa sails but managed to get home in 13 hours.

The prize of Young Sailor of the Year will be presented on November 9 at the Medway Yacht Club, where the dinner is being held, but it clashes with the RHS Trafalgar Evening, so, in Josie’s words, they are “going to have to make a plan!”

Source: East Anglian Daily Times