Zhik UK 29er National Championship at East Lothian Yacht Club - Day 3

Zhik 29er UK Nationals at East Lothian day 3 © Josh Kerr Photography

Zhik 29er UK Nationals at East Lothian day 3 © Josh Kerr Photography

The Zhik UK 29er Nationals finally took to the water on day three following two days of waiting ashore for the wind & sea state to settle down outside East Lothian YC. Racing was brought forward to 10am but as the fleet launched the wind started to build. Thankfully the water stayed fairly flat allowing the majority of the fleet to finish race one despite some gusts in excess of 25 knots. Yellow flight was won by Gillies Munro & Dan Harris fresh from their success at the World Champs in Canada where they finished top Brit in 7th. Blue flight got away in a steady 18 knots & was won by Ed Connellan & Matt Rhodes. With many boats struggling & the safety fleet at full stretch the RO made the decision to send the fleet in after race one until the wind dropped slightly as forecast.

The fleet came back out for a 14.30 start & race two got away in an average 14 knots of breeze with gusts of 21. Yellow flight saw two boats OCS & again Gillies & Dan showed their heavy weather skills with another win this time by a country mile! In blue James Grummett & Dan Budden climbed from 3rd to first by the finish as the wind topped 24 knots.

Race 3 was a tight tussle from start to finish in yellow flight with Rob & Emma Loveridge eventually coming out on top at the final gate whilst blue was led from start to finish by Matt Venables & Curtis Mearns. With conditions moderating the lighter teams started to hold their own but the building black clouds kept the wind shifty & tricky to read; resulting in the experienced teams holding their own & another win for Gillies & Dan in yellow & Matt & Curtis in blue.

Conditions changed dramatically for the final race of the day. The wind dropped from 13 knots to 6 knots, the course was shortened as the fleet struggled to make headway against the tide. Gillies & Dan had enough of a lead to hold on to the tense finish, whilst in blue Mimi El Khazindar & Ben Batten finally got a well deserved win after a consistently good day. The fleet now had a discard & were ready to move into Gold & Silver flights for the next day's racing where the Q position is taken forward as non- discardable points to the final series.

Gillies & Dan top the leader board after 4 bullets; Matt & Curtis take forward a 2nd after 1,1,2,3 were their useful results. 3rd overall is Mimi & Ben after securing a 1,2,2,2. The forecast for the last two days of racing is light so now the competition really does ramp up a gear.

Follow the action on twitter @29erUK or follow the tracking via www.tractrac.com/index.php?page=eventpage&id=441

Results after Day 3: (five qualifying races, 1 discard)