Lucy Hewitson of Woodland Lane, Chorleywood has recently won one of the biggest youth sailing prizes in the UK. Lucy and partner Ben Hutton-Penman from Burnham beat 110 other boats in Torquay over 4 days to become RS Feva National Champions.
The pair started sailing together last autumn after a chance meeting when there were both sailing with their Dads. They entered a couple of events and were fortunate to be selected for the RYA funded squad programme. They worked hard all winter training in all weathers, learned an enormous amount before going on to win the 4 day event. It was very tense with many ups and downs and they only secured the win in the last leg of the last race.
Lucy has recovered from major spinal surgery to cure her scoliosis. 2 years ago she became the first girl in the UK to receive ground breaking new surgery for scoliosis sufferers. She has gone from a girl with a 60 degree curve in her back to one with a straight, strong pain free spine and now a National sailing Champion.