British Team at the French 420 Nationals at Trebeurden
by Jackie Taylor 24 Jul 2012 12:38 BST
14-19 July 2012
The GBR 420's moved on to the next International event and made their way to the French Nationals at Trebeurden. All boats and sailors arrived safely eventually, although Chris Taylor took a detour via Guernsey after the yacht he was racing across the channel on had to take a detour after an injury to one of the crew.
On the first day half the fleet launched to race with the other half going out later as it was rather windy. It was a day of ups and downs for many GBR boats. Not only were there big waves but there were several black flags and an equal number, if not more, capsizes on a windy first day of racing.
We were greeted on day two by grey skies after overnight rain and lighter winds. The fleet went afloat expecting 2 races but as the breeze picked up they ended up with 3. Another scattering of blackflags scuppered some of the GBR scores but Tim and Ed Riley and Jess Lavery and Georgie Mothersele scored well and are on equal points in 4th and 5th overall.
On day 3 the fleets splitt gold and silver and the GBR boats stood a good chance of being in the chocolates With two fantastic days racing the GBR team added to their black flag tally but those that avoid them sailed well achieving some great results.
In the gold fleet Hugo and James finished a fantastic 4th (3rd youth boys), Tim and Ed 6th and Jess and Georgie were 9th and first girls.
In the Silver fleet Annabel and Bryony finished the series with a final race win giving them 1st overall in that fleet.
With 20 black flags picked up by the GBR fleet guess what everyone will be practicing at the next training event...
Full results can be found here.