Graham Butler interviewed after winning the K1 National Championship 2024 at Brixham Yacht Club
by Hilly King 14 Sep 2024 19:36 BST
6-8 September 2024
Graham Butler wins the K1 National Championship at Brixham © Hilly King
I asked Graham Butler our new K1 National Champion to say a word or two about his last few years of sailing, particularly his experience of sailing at this year's National Championships held at Brixham Yacht Club.
I have had the pleasure of counting Graham as a friend of mine for many years and for those yet to meet him, he like all successful sailors, is very modest, has a super sense of humour and of course makes a boat go quickly.
More latterly after a training course with Simon Hawkes Graham now answers to 'Bob' due to Simon renaming him throughout the entire training session!
Below are Graham's thoughts and a short background of his sailing....
At 5'8" and 77kg, I'm not the typical shape / weight of a K1 helm. This means that I'm competitive in sub 8 knots (I can be fully powered and fully hiked when others are still sat on the gunwales). In 8 to 13/14 knots I can hang in there and above that it's hard work! One of the things I like about the K1 is that there is a lot to tinker with and those changes can make a big difference and can help those of us who are lighter weight to cope as the breeze builds.
Most of my sailing in the last ten years has been spent at Frensham Pond, in a Streaker until I switched to the K1 in 2020. The only two man boat sailing I do is in a slightly tatty Comet Trio that my sister and I use to potter round Chichester Harbour; my favourite place to sail. Earlier this year I moved club to Datchet and that's made a huge difference. For those who don't know, Datchet is raised up above the level of the surrounding area and if you sit on the middle you are on a transit between Heathrow control tower and Windsor Castle.
When I joined Datchet it took the K1 fleet to eleven boats; only a few months later we are now up to fifteen. Our back-to-back Sundays have seen eleven K1s, so the racing is really competitive and left me almost as enthusiastic about racing as I was aged 17. I now have a notebook I use to make notes after racing of what worked well, what didn't and what needs changing or practicing for next time and that has made a difference to my performance this year.
Going in to the Nationals this year I was hoping for sub 11 knots, warmth and sunshine and to end up nearer 5th than 10th overall, but as much as anything I was looking forward to getting together with and learning from the other K1 sailors. I've always found the K1 fleet to be really friendly and open to sharing hints and tips.
The weather definitely didn't deliver on warmth and sunshine, but the breeze on Friday and Saturday was light and so suited me well.
The start line for every race was true, so my aim was solely to be close to the line at the start with space beneath me so that I wouldn't be squeezed out in the first few metres by someone sailing very high. Ahead of each start I spent a few moments sailing backwards, to make sure there was no weed on the keel, then checked the line and took a transit and finally headed up into a beat and set the dangly pole. With that done I'd go and hunt for a nice space to hold for the start.
I made a good mid line start in all of the five races and largely sailed the oscillations up the beat, although on most occasions I got to the top mark wishing I'd gone further left mid beat (a brief reflection between races is in my notebook to do next time).
On the runs I either held position or made gains, choosing the gybe that would take me closer to the downwind mark.
I knew I had got some good results across the first two days, but it was only when sheltering from the pouring rain, eating our post race pasty after the Saturday racing that Jeremy H said he thought I must be in the overall lead. However, with three races still to go on Sunday I knew that would likely change and so didn't think much more about it.
Sunday dawned and the view over Torbay saw no breeze and a forecast for little more. So much to my surprise I found myself as national champion.
My memories of Brixham YC are of well laid lines and courses, stairs, good quality well priced food, an unusual procedure for getting competitors ashore, surprise on seeing the changing room and the stairs. There were a lot of stairs. But the best thing about being at Brixham was chatting with friends old and new from the K1 fleet. A lovely bunch of people.