Yachts & Yachting – August 2019

CLUBS & CLASSES

CLUBS CLASSES

The wind gods have often delivered either feast or famine this season but those still willing to

travel whatever the forecast are usually rewarded with great racing. Paula Irish reports

Dobson & Wagsta
are on fire

HARTAS PRODUCTIONS / DUNCAN HEPPLEWHITE

TINA HUTCHINGS

For the second edition of the Zhik Waszp UK nationals at Rutland SC,

the weather gods were particularly kind and provided four days of

sunshine and foiling conditions. Scoring 10 bullets and discarding two

third places, Rory Hunter sailed an incredible series to add the national

title to the International Waszp Games title he won in Australia in

January. With four sailors from overseas, Elliot Savelon (NED) nished

in second, ahead of James Gray, Sam Whaley and Maxwell Todd in that

order, with Dan Welbourn-Hesp (Carsington) sixth overall and youth

champion. e eet included families, weekend warriors, social sailors

and elite athletes, as well as a notable few British Sailing Team names,

and the event was one of the rst in the UK to be sailed on the new and

now standard larger foil; the boat now foils earlier in the wind range

and is more stable through manoeuvres.

Submit your event reports to [email protected]

Rory Hunter victorious at Waszp nationals

Torbay dealt up its most challenging conditions for the nal

day of the Fireball nationals with a north-westerly wind

blowing out over the town and occasionally from Paignton,

and varying from 5 to 20 knots, to make an interesting

racetrack for the potential champions.

Martyn Lewis and Richard Byne (Draycote) claimed the

rst race of the day, then for the eighth and last race it was a

cat and mouse game as Ian Dobson/Richard Wagsta chased

Matt Burge/Dan Schieber around the starting area. Christian

Birrell and Vyv Townend showed they still had it to put in a

second place but it was Dobson/Wagsta who went on to win

the race and as a result the championship.

Birrell/Townend had done just enough to claim second

overall by a point from Burge/Shieber. e four-day

championship at the Royal Torbay YC attracted a healthy eet

of 44 teams, including many past world, European and

national champions, for a competitive series, supported by

sponsors Gul, Hyde, North, Global Insurance.

J/109 crowned

Clyde Cruising

Club Scottish

Series champion

The Clyde Cruising Club

Scottish Series saw three

di

erent days of weather

on Loch Fyne, challenging

sailors with light to heavy

winds, sunny to rainy skies.

Winning RC35, the biggest

class, and declared overall

winner of the Scottish

Series, was Andrew Craig's

J/109 Chimaera. Other fleet

winners were: IRC1 Forty

Licks; IRC3 Harmony; IRC4

F'n Gr8; CYCA5 First by Farr;

CYCA6 Salamander XXII,

CYCA8 Celtic Spirit; Sigma

33 OOD Leaky Roof 2;

Sonata OD Fiddlesticks;

Hunter 707 OD Seaword;

Etchells OD Hero.

Claridge claims

seventh Lightning

nationals win

The Allen Lightning 369

National Championship at

Northampton SC - part of

the Noble Marine Insurance

Travellers series - provided

testing conditions over six

races. Robbie Claridge

(Mk3, Royal Lymington)

nailed yet another

championship win, his

seventh in the last 11 years,

with Paul White (Mk2,

Draycote) second.

Jeremy Cooper (Shotwick

Lake), in third overall, took

both the Giles Trophy for

the leading Mk1 older boat

and the Veterans cup. Jason

Gallagher (Denholme) in

fourth won the Masters title

and Caroline Hollier (West

Oxfordshire) was Ladies

Champion in fifth.

Baraka wins RORC

North Sea Race

Fine weather and solid

breeze provided fast

downwind and reaching

78 Yachts & Yachting August 2019 yachtsandyachting.co.uk