Advertisement

Isle of Wight triplets scoop top national sailing award

Royal Victoria Yacht Club sailors, triplets Tom, Charlie and Harry White, won a top national sailing award. <i>(Image: Marcus Holdsworth)</i>
Royal Victoria Yacht Club sailors, triplets Tom, Charlie and Harry White, won a top national sailing award. (Image: Marcus Holdsworth)

IDENTICAL triplets from the Isle of Wight— Tom, Harry and Charlie White — did the Royal Victoria Yacht Club (RVYC) proud by jointly winning the Young Sailor of the Year trophy at the prestigious British Yachting Awards.

The 22-year-olds, of Wootton Bridge, are already veterans of Cowes Week — and at such a young age — having first raced during the event back in 2015.

Their joint nomination for the award followed their recent success in this year’s Cowes Week in their Squib, Kestrel, which won the overall U25 team and Musto ‘young skippers’ trophies, as well as finishing a strong third in the Squib class.

The British Yachting Awards took place at the Royal Thames Yacht Club, Knightsbridge.
The trio started sailing at the RVYC as cadets and worked their way up through Laser racing and on to the Squib class in Kestrel.

They gained national attention in other circumstances last year when they graduated with first class degrees from the same university in the same subject — studying geography at the University of Portsmouth.

“Sailing has very much brought the three of us together — keeping our competitive and team spirits alive through sport”, said Harry.

“Furthermore, our experiences have allowed us to give back to our friends and the club, who have such a profound, positive impact on our lives.

“I think this nomination embodied that sense of community and achievement.
“Without the support of our friends at the RVYC over the years, we would never have been in this situation.

“We would like to thank all those who have always shown us tremendous support and thank everyone who voted for us.”

The Royal Victoria Yacht Club’s commodore, Chris Rickman, echoed Harry’s sentiments.

He added: “This is a totally outstanding achievement and we couldn’t be more delighted for them — and their very proud mum, Angie.

“Their success is a reflection of what a thriving environment we have at the RVYC.”