49er National Championships at Weston Sailing Club

Dave Evans and Simon Hiscocks win the 49er nationals at Weston © WSC

Frances Peters and Katrina Best win the 49er FX nationals at Weston © WSC

The Warsash Superyacht Academy sponsored 49er Nationals were held over four days (4th – 8th October) at a very welcoming Weston SC. The format for the four days was the same as last year's nationals with training held by double Olympic medallist Simon Hiscocks on day one, and then three days of testing racing under the watchful eye of race officer Dermot O'Malley and his team. The first days training saw 14 boats take to the water in a perfect 15 knot SW, this provided ideal conditions to work on boat handling with the focus on short course "gut buster" racing, figure of eights between the start marks to perfect bear-away's/jibes/tacks as well as start practice. Although most coped well with the conditions in the high standard fleet special mention and a spot prize had to be awarded to Chris Tilbrook and his 14 year old crew Carys Roberts who managed to sail well keeping the fully powered up 49er under control and pacing well against the rest of the fleet.

Day two saw the start of the 49er nationals, joined for the first time by the recently selected woman's skiff 49er FX for their inaugural National Championships. In an impressive step up from last year's nationals, 27 49ers and 4 FX's turned up to race in what is the best turnout in four years! Unfortunately what did not turn up were the big winds forecasted earlier in the week and racing commenced in a dropping 8 knot Westerly.

With boats pulling two strings in the first race emphasis was still on boat speed with Dave Hopper and Mark Asquith showing great pace, however they were pushed hard by ex 2008 Olympic campaign team Dave Evans and Simon Hiscocks who clearly meant business as well as Rick Peacock and Nick Murray. Race two saw a similar result with slightly less wind putting the emphasis firmly on tactics with once again Dave and Mark coming out on top. Race three saw the challenge thrown down by Dave and Simon taking a bullet in the last race of the day with Dave and Mark in second and Rick Peacock and Nick Murray in third.

Day three saw further light winds with a slowly building 5 knot breeze coming from the NE between the nearby flats creating very shifty conditions with the race officer comparing the track to the challenging Nothe course in Weymouth. That said even with the wind playing games the highly skilled race team were able to get another three races in, snakes and ladders commenced with teams who picked the right shifts making massive gains, this being particularly noticeable in race two where several mid fleet teams picked up a nice shift on the right combined with good pressure allowing them to leapfrog around ten places and mix it up with the squad sailors at the front. That said the three dominant teams of the day before maintained their form with Dave and Simon posting a 6,1,1 to take the event lead.

That evening entertainment was laid on by the club, with a live band and heavily discounted forty niner beer a good opportunity presented itself to hand out some more spot prizes provided by Allen Brothers for awards such as best capsize (they did happen even in 5 knots).

The final day dawned with some people nursing saw heads from the night before. The water was looking worrying with only 3 knots of wind, coming again from the NE, that said it was quite warm and sunny and with the wind being so unstable talk started about the idea of a late season sea breeze.

Thankfully the sea breeze appeared from the Solent and after a couple of general recalls one race commenced with Garda style tactics of picking up the lifts close to the shore in the 6 - 8 knot wind. The fleet was tight and with 30+ boats fighting for a fairly small bit of water up the shoreline, the spectators on the beach and at the club were treated to a panoramic view of the entire track with boats tacking 20 feet away. The race finished with Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten taking the bullet followed by Dave Evans and Simon Hiscocks (Securing them the event win) with Dave Hopper and Mark Asquith rounding out the top three.

Final prize giving was held swiftly after the last race in great style with the Sherriff of Southampton on hand to give out the prizes which consisted of the traditional Nationals trophies followed by spot prizes from event class sponsors Ovington Boats and event hardware sponsors Allen Brothers.

The 49er class and the 49er FX class would like to thank Weston sailing club, the event sponsors and all involved in making this top class event a success.

Friday Results: (overall position carried over as a discardable race for the weekend)

Weekend Results: