Tornado Nationals Report

Blatant Pagarism from the tornado site but i'm sure Simon won't mind. I had a great weekend, missed out on two races on the Saturday morning, but thats racing. Great to see 26 Tornado's all in one place, looking forward to the regatta's in Weymouth now.

"Tornado Nationals [ 09/12/06 ]

The Tornado UK National Championships brought together the best of UK and overseas visiting crews. This year the event was held in Brightlingsea, Essex from the 8th -10th September.
There was strong fleet of 26 entries including 2 French and 1 Danish boat (each Olympic contenders in their own country) that had travelled to join in the high level competition. Whilst the top end of the fleet was dominated by Olympic hopefuls/GBR squad and the overseas visitors the club racers in the middle and lowers orders competed furiously and had fantastic fun.
The weather was glorious with 3 warm sunny days and winds of Force 2-5. A full schedule of 10 races each lasting approximately 1 hour/3 laps around a windward leeward course took place.
The social side of the event was very active and fun. Friday night saw a “Hog Roast” provided by Graham Eeles, Saturday was a sit down curry, with speeches, video of the days racing, free beer, fun prizes, a key note speech by Reg White and followed by dancing to a rock band.
The Tornado became the first Olympic catamaran class in 1976, when Reg White of Brightlingsea won a Gold medal in Montreal with a boat built in Brightlingsea. It is exactly 30 years since this inaugural Olympic win by Reg and he came along to speak of his experiences at the Commodores dinner on Saturday night to the young group of new Olympic hopefuls.
The event was sponsored by Volkswagen Touareg who provided financial support and a tow-car.
UK Championship Results & Prizes


1st Place Championship Winners Leigh McMillan & Will Howden
2nd Place GBR Boat Chris Rashly & Marcus Lynch
3rd Place GBR Boat John Ready & Ryan Crawford
1st Youth Team Chris Rashly & Marcus Lynch

Best Placed Overseas Crew(2nd in the Regatta) Mattieu Souben & Gurvan Bontemps (France)
1st Non RYA funded team John Ready & Ryan Crawford
Best Placed Mixed Crew David Shaw & Susan Shaw
1st Brightlingsea Crew John Payne & Mat Hunt
Outstanding Achievement Barry Arnison & Nik Davy

Diary of Racing

Thursday 7th September - Practice Day
10 boats went out together, supported by two coach boats to do practice starts and short shake-down races in Force 3/Sunny conditions
Friday 8th September 2006 3 races
Racing started at 10:30 with sun and Force 2-3 winds – flat water. Leigh McMillan/Will Howden lead to begin in Race 1 but a tactical error saw them drop to 6th place and the race was won by Danish Team Allan Norregaard/ Michael Risor and John Ready/Ryan Crawford as the first GBR boat. The following two races were both won by Leigh McMillan/Will Howden
Saturday 9th September 4 Races
Another sunny day but with wind strength Force 3-4 with occasional gusts to Force 5. The sea state began to roughen up during the day resulting in two capsizes. First place in all 4 races went to Leigh McMillan/Will Howden as they consolidated their hold on top spot in the regatta. The overseas entries had a good day with 3 2nd places on the water by Bill Besson/Arnaud Jaelegan from France and 3 3rd places by Matthieu Souben/Gurvan Bontemps also from France
Sunday 10th September 3 races
The competitors woke to little wind and a blazing sunny day, racing was postponed for an hour but the fleet got underway as a Force 2-3 sea breeze kicked in at 12:00. The lighter airs saw much closer tactical racing but Leigh McMillan/Will Howden continued their strangle-hold on the event with another 3 wins. Matthieu Souben / Gurvan Bontemps were equally as consistent with three 2nd’s. Hugh Styles/Tom Peel achieved two 3rd’s and a 4th as they adjusted to the lighter conditions
The Event Winners
Leigh McMillan & Will Howden dominated the event with 9 straight wins out of 10 races. With one allowable discard this gave them only 9 points, the minimum possible over the event. Leigh & Will were sailing the new Graham Eeles designed/built Tornado, built in Brightlingsea and making its debut at a UK regatta. Leigh and Will have been sailing together since Dec 2004, since then they have been training full time as part of the Royal Yachting Associations Team GBR. Based in the Southampton area they are training in Hamble and Weymouth when in the UK, and Santander, Spain and Palma for the remainder of the winter. They have been competing at all the major Olympic classes regattas around the world and have just returned from racing in China at the 2008 Olympic location. "