For the second year running, the Welsh Schools Championships were held in Pembrokeshire under the burgess of Pembrokeshire Yacht Club at Gelliswick Bay in conjunction with the Welsh Yachting Association. The club made a massive effort and ran a spectacular event; even providing stunning conditions whilst most of Britain was suffering with torrential rain! Christian Smart, club sailing captain and event organiser, must be mentioned as he did an impressive job of co-ordinating all the volunteers to run an excellent event. A total of 99 sailors took to the waters of Milford Haven in three separate race areas. The largest fleets of Optimist and Toppers used the area known as Milford Shelf, the Laser Radials and Handicap fleets went across the channel to Angel Bay and the newly-formed Regatta Fleet for less experienced Optimist and Toppers were in Gelliswick Bay, just off the club. The largest fleet, Toppers, were dominated by Micky Beckett (Ysgol Dewi Sant, Pembrokeshire). He followed in his brother's footsteps from last year by winning the event with a near perfect score-sheet of five firsts and a second. The Optimist fleet had close racing and it was all down to the last race where it was still open to the top three boats. Joshua Burgess (Bishopston Comp, Swansea) managed to keep his nerve and take his first major championship win. Second place was decided on countback and went to Rowan Edwards (Llanfairpwll, Anglesey), with Will Creaven (Fairfield Primary, Vale of Glamorgan) coming in third. Over in the Laser Radial fleet, racing was also extremely tight, with many place changes. Gareth Henshall (St. Gerards, Gwynedd) took the honours over rivals Toby Collinson (St. Gerards) and Stevie Beckett (Ysgol Dewi Sant). The handicap fleet saw an interesting mix of 420, GP14, Feva and Bytes. However, it was the 420 of Nathan Bailey and Freddie Jones (St. Cyres, Vale of Glamorgan) that came out on top. The regatta fleet proved a popular addition to this event, allowing less experienced sailors to sample to quality racing for the first time. Honours in the Optimist fleet went to Emlyn Williams (Ysgol Goronwy Owen, Ynys Mon) and the Topper fleet was clinched by Kieran Rendell (Milford Haven Comp, Pembrokeshire). Tim Hall, Welsh national racing coach, was at the event looking for new talent to fill the spaces in the Welsh national squads for the 2008. He commented that selection would certainly be challenging as the standard of sailing across the classes had increased yet again. Richard Twining, development officer for West Wales, introduced the prize-giving and thanked the race teams, officials and many other helpers that made the event possible. He also introduced Blake Shaw, ex-WYA committee member and current RYA council member, who reflected on his many years of watching generation of sailors develop in Wales, before he awarded the prizes. Christian Smart thanked the main sponsors 'South Hook', who helped in providing some excellent prizes and financial support. The Welsh Schools Championships hope to return to West Wales again in 2008.
