Javelin Nationals at Felixstowe Ferry Sailing Club

Felixstowe Ferry SC excelled themselves by organising an excellent series of races over three days. Glorious weather and variable force three winds gave superbly tactical racing.

In race 1 Richard and Kathryn Smith GBR566 won after escaping from the pack on the first beat. The chasing group of six boats battled for the positions and in the end it was Tim Greenaway and Liam Packham in GBR563 who took second from Mike Pickles and Dick Fisher in third.

Race 2 and Gavin Johnson and Matt Toone GBR565 took advantage of the line bias with a perfectly timed port tack start to lead from beginning to end (it just had to be done) Richard and Kathryn battled their way through the fleet to take second from Tim and Liam.

Race three was a tight battle between the 566 565, 522 sailed by Greig Brown and Ollie Boyes and 559 Cliff Sagar and Andy Cross. Eventually 566 and 565 gave Greig and Cliff the slip to take first and second respectively.

Sunday’s racing was characterised by delays due to a shifting and somewhat unsteady wind.

Race 4 finished with the leading boats crossing the line on a three sail reach.

The wind having settled the tide began to exert its influence and in Race 5. 565’s second attempt at a port tack flyer was foiled by the rest of the fleet who caused the one and only general recall of the weekend. Race officer Roger Lewis showed no mercy and brought the fleet under control with the use of the black flag for the restart. At the restart it was Greg Barton and Jackie Crafter (514) who lead at the first mark. At the end of a tactically exhausting race the top three of 566, 565 and 563 narrowly crossed ahead of 562 and 543 (Ben Fisher and Olav Schluter).

Race 6, spurred on by their exploits in the previous race Ben and Olav shot away into an early lead which began to look unassailable. Richard and Kathryn were relentless in pursuit grinding their way past 543 to win and take their fifth win of the series.

Monday with two races scheduled proved to be the best days racing of the weekend with a cat and mouse battle going on between 566,565, 563 and 562 throughout both races. At the beginning of the second lap of race seven Tim Greewaway (563) worked the shifts to perfection to open a lead he was never to lose. Richard and Kathryn (566) worked their way past 565 and 562 to take second. Reaching in to the leeward mark 565 out dragged 562 gaining just sufficient distance to take third.

Race 8 and it was the another close race culminating in a win for Richard and Kathryn (566)closely followed by Gavin and Matt (565) with Tim and Liam (563)chasing hard. Again Ben and Olav (543) engaged in a tenacious battle with Mike and Dick (562).

Sometimes event reports seem to be about the leading boats but the story of the event really is about the whole fleet, Jochem Visser and Mark Zaremba joined us from Holland, Mark and Ben Longstaff had their weekend was truncated by an errant spinnaker pole felling Mark, Greig Brown and Ollie Boyes finished 6th their first ever Javelin event and Becky Cross and Jayne Partington sailed the oldest boat with the youngest helm.

As usual the fleet thoroughly enjoyed themselves taking full advantage of the culinary delights of FFSC and the social events put on to keep us out of trouble.

Congratulations to Kathryn and Richard Smith for a truly great performance to take the 2007 National championship title and a huge thankyou to FFSC for yet another perfect regatta.

Overall Results: (Click here to fill in Gear Guide information)