Teenage champions sail away with major regional award

Mat and Ben Lulham-Robinson have been named the RYA Yorkshire and Humber region young sailors of the year, an award which recognises the outstanding achievements of young sailors across the country.

Matt, 14, and Ben, 13, from Burley-in-Wharfedale, were recognised for their results in the Mirror dinghy class. They were junior European champions in 2010 and junior World champions in 2011 and they even made their own sails on their bedroom floor.

“We are so proud to receive this RYA trophy particularly as it is such a well recognised and respected award,” said Ben afterwards

“We’re excited about being selected for the RYA 420 transition training squad.”

“Winning this award has made us even more determined to continue to work hard to achieve some great results in our new boat in 2012,” said Matt.

“It is a big step up from the junior (under-16) Mirror class to the youth (under-19) 420 boat, but we are looking forward to the challenge. We have been training and competing over the Christmas and new year holiday and the latest suit of sails, which we helped to make, are even faster than our previous ones.”