J/24 Nationals at Royal Dorset Yacht Club - Overall

A windy final day for the J/24 nationals in Weymouth © Nick Frampton / www.framptonimage.co.uk

A windy final day for the J/24 nationals in Weymouth © Nick Frampton / www.framptonimage.co.uk

Things really weren’t looking promising going into the final day of the 2008 J/24 National Championships, one race sailed in three days and 30 knot winds still battering Weymouth. The good news was that the wind had moved from a South Westerly to a Westerly, dramatically reducing the sea state and allowing PRO Dr Frank Newton to set a course close to the shore. Racing had been brought forward an hour to try and get two races in so that a series could be completed.

The first race was started in 25 knots of wind with the individual recall flag raised for four boats too eager to get back racing. Mark Penfold’s rejuvenated ‘Reloaded’ helmed by Gavin Watson once again was fast out of the blocks and took an early lead. On the second beat Stuart Jardine in ‘Stouche’ took the lead in the shifty conditions once to loose it once again to ‘Reloaded’ on the final beat giving them their second victory in a row and a commanding lead in the championship.

Conditions were getting decidedly fruity for the final race. Their were more white caps on the waves and spray blowing flat off the tops of them, it was going to be a full-on finale. The race team were keen to get everyone away first time before the wind got too much to race in and raised the black flag to encourage a clean start. The ploy worked and the fleet ploughed upwind with sails ragging and crews hiking to the limit.

At the windward mark the top ten teams were incredibly close with just a few boat lengths separating everyone. Once round the windward mark things separated out a bit in the high speed surfing conditions. John Allen’s ‘Legal Alien’ lead throughout the first lap with ‘Stouche’, ‘Hitch Hiker, ‘Serco’, ‘Phoenix’, ‘Boomerang’ and ‘Peggy’ in hot pursuit.

The second lap saw places changing rapidly in the shifting winds. One wrong call was costing a number of places with the top teams still so tightly bunched. The final run saw planning / surfing conditions the whole way down. The boat handling shown by all the teams was exceptional.

So it all came down to the final beat. ‘Stouche’ took the lead and won the race after a favourable shift on the left hand side. ‘Reloaded’ came through from a relatively poor start to take second and the championship.

Mark Penfold, skipper of ‘Reloaded’ said at the prizegiving; “I can’t quite believe that we’ve finally won the UK Championship at my sixteenth attempt! So pleased to have the boat back on the water. The conditions have been really challenging but the team at the Combined Clubs of Weymouth has made the most of the conditions and made the decision to get us racing when it was right to do so. It’s been great having an international team of friends (Danish, Swedish & Cornish) on the boat, many thanks to all of them.”

The class would like to thank the Combined Clubs of Weymouth and all the volunteers for their help and hospitality throughout the championship. While more time was spent ashore than we wanted due to the extraordinary conditions, Dr Frank Newton and his team took every opportunity available to get us out on the water and set superb courses in truly testing conditions. It was down to their good judgement and skill that we got a championship at all.

Many thanks also to the sponsors; Dean & Reddyhoff, Hyde Sails, North Sails and Palmers Brewery.

Overall Results: