Noble Marine 29er Winter Championship at Draycote Water Sailing Club

Noble Marine 29er Winter Championship at Draycote Water © Henry Jameson

Noble Marine 29er Winter Championship at Draycote Water © Henry Jameson

The Noble Marine 29er Winter Championship at Draycote on 3rd/4th February 2018 was as you would expect... cold!

Ian Bullock called it perfectly on Saturday cancelling racing early due to lack of wind allowing the sailors to hit the golf driving range, go bowling, shopping or trampolining for the day. Sailors not fast enough out the door spent valuable time with the committee discussing next season's racing and training schedule.

Sunday was set to be an early start with the aim of getting 5 races in to allow us to get a discard. The day started quite light but steadily picked up to its strongest gusting over 20 knots in race 4 then settled back down again for the final race. Draycote delivered its signature shifty, tactical conditions and race 1 saw the Dyer brothers sail a great race leading most of the way but it was Ewan Wilson and Fin Armstrong who took the win. Toby Atherton and I nearly caught them but we just couldn't pull enough speed out of the bag.

Ewan and Fin again read the conditions perfectly, sailing a flawless second race to once more take the win. Toby and I chased hard to end second with Toby Cope and Harry Pulford close behind in third.

Race 3 saw Chris James and James Hall take the race win by quite some margin, reading the first beat well after a great pin end start, Ewan and Fin chased in 2nd with Charlotte Ormerod and Jess Jobson close in 3rd. Now with the wind at its strongest, it was by far the most fun race of the day. And so, with some unmatchable upwind boat speed, and a pretty lift on port, the Fox brothers took a very impressive lead. However disaster nearly struck when they capsized on a reach meters from the finish – due to a sketchy drop. Their huge lead allowed the boys to get the boat back up and still take first, much to the disappointment of Ewan and Fin who had come screaming into the gate on a gybe drop to try and nab the win. This 2nd from Ewan and Fin meant the Winter Championship was theirs with a race to spare, with Fin retaining his trophy from the year before. Iain Bird and Anna Rowe finished in 3rd.

The final race for the day belonged to Bella and Anna who showed the fleet how its done with a massive lead from start to finish – utterly uncatchable. Ewan and Fin took another 2nd and Chris and James finished in 3rd to take 2nd place overall.

Quality race management allowed the fleet to get out of the boat park and have some fun on the Saturday, and also to have some great racing on the Sunday. Displays of boat speed showed some lengthy leads, however it was the shifts and gusts that turned out to be the winning feature, leader boards were often rewritten with a nicely timed gybe into a gust on the downwind.

After a short protest, the prize giving got underway with some fantastic Zhik prizes to be won – a brand new T2 harness, and white buoyancy aids were the most sought after. Ewan and Fin won through a consistent series, Chris James and James Hall pulled it out the bag in the last race to take 2nd, and Toby and I took third. Bella Fellows and Anna Sturrock took the girls' prize close behind in 4th, while the first mixed team was Iain Bird and Anna Rowe. A big thank you goes out to all the competitors, parents and the class association for making this event happen and a massive thank you to Noble Marine and Zhik for sponsoring the event.

Overall Results: