Ovington Boats 29er Inland Championships at Grafham Water

Ovington Boats 29er Inland Championships at Grafham © Hammett Family

Crispin Beaumont and Tom Darling win the Ovington Boats 29er Inland Championships at Grafham © Hammett Family

Hannah Bristow and Emily Covell win the Ladies trophy at the Ovington Boats 29er Inland Championships at Grafham © Hammett Family

After a few weekends off sailing for most, due to the crazy winter winds, 53 rusty 29er teams made the trek to the rescheduled 2015 Ovington Inland Championships at Grafham. The fleet enjoyed two days of high quality racing that tested the full wind range.

Saturday's first race was sailed in the wind range of 11-17 knots and was won by Crispin/Tom who got a decent first beat rounded in first and managed to extend as the boats placed 2-6 fought it out behind them with Ollie/Jamie taking 2rd and Hatty/Courtney 3rd. Another convincing lead in the second race from Crispin and Tom left them with another bullet and as winds peaked at 22knots there were a few more capsizes but the fleet managed well and 70% of boats finished.

Racing at the front was intense around the course with the heavier teams like Ollie/Jamie and Nick/Jake having the edge upwind but counteracting this lighter teams such as Dan/Nat and Bobby/Harvey managed to catch up on the downwind legs making for very even racing. Race 3 was great fun with 30knots+ gusts. Teams yanked on cunno and Crispin/Tom and Bobby/Harvey both went for the port duck option off the line which paid massively and with Bobby/Harvey's surprising pace in the breeze they managed to create and keep a lead around the course for the first half of the race however a questionable gybe set into arguably the biggest gust on the course sent them swimming on the gybe point leaving heavyweights Ollie/Jamie who kept it simple with the win.

With over half the fleet upside down only 13boats made it across the line. Putting in simple and solid performances Hugh/Josh finished in second and Jake/Nick in 3rd. Much to the nervous parents delight and with the wind only building the race officer decided to stop racing for the day with 5 races scheduled for the next day.

By the following day the wind speed had dropped significantly to 5 knots building to 8-10 knots. The race team did a great job by getting all 5 races in and the fleet did well to bear the cold and battle round the course! The left side seemed favourable throughout the day with a slight port bias and bigger lifts on port the further you headed out away from the centre.

This created almost classic Garda conditions with a big emphasis on starting, lane holding and lay lines. Stand out performers of the day with 4 solid counters were Dan/Nat with 5,5,4,3 and James/Ben with 2,6,6,2. Shout out to the unexpected right shift in the last race leaving the top 4 boats using it as a discard.

Well done to Crispin/Tom for another event win (although the fleet are closing in), Emily/Hannah for another 1st Girls, Dan/Fin for 1st Juniors and Jane/Paddy for 1st mixed.

A big thanks to Harken and Ovington Boats for the prizes and also to Grafham Water Sailing Club for hosting the rearranged event and delivering such high quality race management.

Ovington Boats 29er Inland Championships at Grafham - photo © Hammett Family

Overall Results:

Ovington Boats 29er Inland Championships at Grafham - photo © Hammett Family