Cadet Clemenson Nautilus Trophy & World Team Selector at the WPNSA
by Peter Collyer 7 May 2014 07:57 BST
3-4 May 2014
Cadets at the WPNSA for the World Team Selector at Weymouth © Peter Collyer
Ross and Jake Thompson won the Clemenson Nautilus Trophy as Weymouth Harbour provided the backdrop for another weekend of close racing in the Cadet Class. The event also served as the second selector for the GBR team that will compete at the World Championships here in August.
56 boats came to the start of the first race on Saturday, including 2 from Belgium and 2 from Holland who made the trip to get some experience of the local conditions in advance of the Worlds. Race 1 saw Aliya and Aqil Jannaty from South Cerney SC pull away from the fleet to win by a huge margin. After posting a 36th in Race 2 they came back to score another emphatic victory in Race 3. Overnight leaders were current Inland Champions Alex Page and Aaron Chadwick from Brightlingsea/Fisher's Green, scoring 2, 1, 3, while the top Belgium boat sailed by Seppe Greeve and Cedric Boven (last seen in British Waters winning the UK Nationals last August) was close behind.
Throughout Saturday the Race Officer had done a great job coping with fluctuations in the breeze and a major shift in the afternoon that had meant re-laying the entire course between races 2 and 3. On Sunday his job was made much easier by a steady breeze that held up throughout. The winners of the previous Selector, Willow and Cara Bland from Waldringfield SC ran away with Races 4 and 6, but it was Ross and Jake Thompson from Frensham Pond/Royal Lymington who clinched the overall honours, adding a win in Race 5 to a very consistent weekend in which they only dropped out of the top ten once. Alex and Aaron held on for second place overall while a consistent second day allowed Aliya and Aqil to discard their 36th from Race 2 and finish third.
In the Silver Fleet Harry Fitzsimmons and Sam Woodhouse (Frensham/RLYC) led for most of the weekend and finished as high as 2nd in Race 5, but they were beaten for the overall prize in the final race by the Silver Fleet victors from the first selector, Tom Collyer and Francis Butterworth (Aldenham/Fisher's Green). In third place, and also on the Silver Fleet podium for the second time, were Louis Mellor and Rosie Targett from Frensham Pond.
The nine boats in the Bronze Fleet enjoyed close racing once again and had clearly benefitted from a recent weekend of training at Datchet Water. Two race wins on Sunday sealed the overall prize for Amy and Ben Goult from Frensham Pond SC with Waldringfield pair Erin Marks and Mary Sacker second and Frensham's Jessica Pearson and Toby Slump in third.
Full results can be found here.
The Selector Series concludes at Stone SC over the weekend of 24th and 25th May, but before then the Cadet Class has two historic events to look forward to: The Munster Cup, raced on the Thames at Tamesis SC on 10th May and a return to the Class's spiritual home, Burnham, for the Corinthian Otters Open Meeting on 17th May.