29er Inland Championship at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Ovington Inland Championships at Grafham Water © Fleye Aerial Film and Photography

Ovington Inland Championships at Grafham Water © Fleye Aerial Film and Photography

Let us set the scene for you... imagine a beautiful glorious day with the sun bearing down on the freshly dewed grass, sprinkled with morning frost. The wind slightly rustling the trees with a light, soft breeze that was cool to the skin. The 29ers proudly stood, neatly lined up in the boat park, reflecting on the beautiful waters of Grafham. Happy faces were everywhere and people gaily skipped to their boats. Now remember that and think of the opposite. Basically we arrived and there was mud, mud and more mud. The sky was grey, the lake was grey, pretty much everything was grey. There were darker shades of grey which represented the big gusts that easily could have been 100 knots. There was also rain. Did we mention that? Rain. But the 29er class are a tough lot and they can sail in anything.

Credits to the race officers for launching us on time, the conditions were a bit touch and go but they managed to get the first race underway. The gusts were pretty epic and we even experienced some gnarly chop on the waters of grafham. Two boats even managed to snap their masts! Races needed to be completed though due to dying breezing on Sunday. Big fleet meant two starts and the first start whizzed around the course with James Grummet and Dan Budden leading up to the windward mark but then they decided it was two windy so they dropped their masts. Young pairing of Jamie and Jamie showed some awesome boat handling to muscle the boat round the course to complete the first win, Closely followed by team connellan brown and Felix and James.

In the other race, top GB pairing in the recent EuroCup at Lake Garda, Rowan and Dan, managed to secure the win in the increasing winds followed by Lewis May and Aaron Murray, and Gus Dixon and Lawrence Logan. Adrenalin was pumping at this point but if you looked upwind there was more over than upright, including two time national champion, so the race officer made a wise decision to send us in.

Our feet barely touched the shore though as they re-gathered safety and sent us back out, good news for James and Dan who managed to change their mast in time! Conditions were still booming but the next race was launched very quickly. In Yellow/Red race, the solid pairing of Rowan and Dan secured themselves another win who were closely followed by Jamie and Jamie.

In the other flight with their new mast, James and Dan showed their pace in the breeze laying down a solid bullet ahead of Gus and Lawrence. Soon after, at 35 knots squall arrived leaving most of the fleet swimming, so the race officer made a wise decision to call racing off for the day.

Remembrance Sunday dawned in a complete contrast to the day before, sun and light winds for a change. The fleet launched on time at 9.45 into a weak southerly breeze, which wasn't looking promising. By 11.00 oclock still no breeze, however the race committee fired 2 signals, indicating a minutes silence. Shortly after, the breeze built to a steady 6 knots allowing 4 quick fire races to get away. The first race between Yellow/Green was won in a confident fashion by Ollie Aldridge and Nathaniel Gordon, who won the pin and sailed a fine race to win by a hefty margin, followed by a new pairing Matt Venables and Alice Masterman. The second flight was won by Murray Hampshire and Tom Goodbourn with new boys on the block, Bobby Hewitt and Harvey Martin taking 2nd.

Ovington Inland Championships at Grafham Water - photo © Fleye Aerial Film and Photography

Race 4 followed in a similar fickle breeze, Murray and Tom made it back to back wins however Mimi El-Khazindar and Emma Loveridge made it a hard fought one and then Rowan and Dan posting another solid result. The other flight was decided on the final run, with Edwina Connellan and Moliver Brown battling it the Venables Brothers. Edwina and Moliver took the bullet followed by younger brother Dan,with Paddy and then Matt and Alice.

The conditions remained the same for the 3rd race of the day, the Blue/Green race had a hard fought battle at the front, with the lead exchanging hands regularly. Arthur Brown and Dan Batten had the final say of the race taking the win, with Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling closely behind. The other flight was mastered by Dan and Paddy who won convincingly, with James Leetch and Jemima Leedham taking second and Jane Furness and Fraser Kitson-Jones 3rd.

The final race of the day was started in a dying breeze, and the wind started to swing left, leaving a biased race track. The first flight got away first time, Rowan and Dan showed the way to post another bullet with Courtney Bilbrough and Hatty Ward 2nd and Murray and Tom 3rd. The second flight got away second time round, Ian Escritt and Kate Mellor battled with Rob Lloyd and Ella Cudmore up the first beat, there was then a split at the gate which was to decide the outcome of the race. With the breeze dying the PRO decided to shorten the race to the windward mark. Rob and Ella took the win, with Matt and Alice sneaking 2nd place ahead of Ollie and Nathaniel posting a 3rd.

Ovington Inland Championships at Grafham Water - photo © Fleye Aerial Film and Photography

Congratulations to our new Ovington 29er Inland Champions Rowan Edwards and Daniel Blight from Pwllheli/Port Dinorwic SC. Sailing a consistent series ahead of second place Edwina Connellan and Moliver Brown in 2nd. 3rd was Matt Venables and Alice Masterman.

A big thank you to Grafham Water Sailing Club for hosting the event and to all the sponsors.

Overall Results: