Nordic Folkboat Nationals at Parkstone Yacht Club

Windy conditions for the Folkboat nationals in Poole Harbour © David Harding / www.sailingscenes.co.uk

The wind moderates over the weekend for the Folkboat nationals in Poole Harbour © David Harding / www.sailingscenes.co.uk

Parkstone Yacht club were hosts to the Nordic Folkboat Nationals on 6-8th July. The majority of owners had to complete the journey from the Western and Central Solent, this in itself caused numbers to be effected with a gale force 8 forecast from the West on the Thursday. The last yachts to leave on the afternoon ebb tide had to endure registered winds of 49 knots off Hurst, which gives some idea of what the yachts go through just to make the event and the durability of these yachts.

Despite the lower than expected turn out the quality of the fleet was second to none with the current and past national champions in attendance and the current round the island race, gold roman bowl winner.

Friday was slightly better than Thursday but still enough wind to make the PRO Barry Rolfe keep the fleet in the inner harbour, in winds which touched 26 knots. An Olympic course was set in the north shore with all competitors keen to make their mark on the championship.

‘Madelaine’ (Edward Donald) reveled in the conditions and took the bullet followed by the local yacht ‘Stralende’ (Duncan Glen helming for Simon Flack) and ‘Crackerjack’ (Stuart Watson). The race was far from incident free with ‘So!’ (Simon Osgood) caught by a port boat causing extensive damage and subsequent protest hearing. The whole incident was captured with some amazing pictures by David Harding which were then used in the protest room. Thanks to local boatbuilder Chris Middleton the yacht was patched up and able to continue the regatta.

Day two by contrast to the two previous days was glorious with a south westerly three to four allowing racing to continue in the bay. With four races scheduled the competitors knew it was going to be an intense day.

Race two saw ‘Crackerjack’ take the first available bullet on the windward/leeward set course, followed by ‘Stralande’ and ‘Madelaine’.

Race three being back to back with race one saw ‘So!’ take advantage of the pin end biased and execute a perfect port tack start leading the fleet round the course to take an unchallenged bullet, with ‘Crackerjack’ working their way through the fleet for second and ‘Tak’ (Ado Jardine sailing for Jeremy Austin) third.

The penultimate race of the day (again windward/leeward) in pretty perfect conditions saw yet again a different race winner ‘Tak’ with the ever consistent ‘Stralande’ following on their heels. ‘Crackerjack’ having to settle for third.

‘Crackerjack’ achieved the final bullet of the day and their first of the Championship in race five, having sailed a masterful first beat and maintaining their position to the finish, leaving ‘Tak’ and ‘Madelaine’ to take the final two positions in that order.

Back ashore on day two, everything was still wide open for the top three positions. The fleet were taken again into the bay for some windward/leeward action. The PRO had given the time for the wind to build and by midday there was a consistent breeze in the bay allowing for some champagne sailing conditions.

Shortly after completing the first lap the lead boats continued on the left hand side of the course to the windward mark, this being led by ‘Crackerjack’, ‘Stralande’ and ‘Padfoot’ (Chris Hills). They were punching a strengthening tide and were tightly covering one another. Meanwhile ‘Moonraker’ (Mark Crader) and ‘Madelaine’ had seen the opportunity of banging the right hand side of the course which paid. Both yachts had popped out at the front of the fleet on the final windward mark, some considerable away head of the original leaders. This lead was maintained with ‘Maidelaine’ just overhauling ‘Moonraker’ on the approach to the finish to take the bullet, with ‘Crackerjack’ keeping in ‘the chocolates’ with a third and effectively winning the National Championships.

In summary the event had been a massive success considering the Thursday weather, with Parkstone Yacht Club providing excellent racing and a superb social backdrop for the Championships. Congratulations to ‘Crackerjack’ on winning their consecutive National Championships and PRO Barry Rolfe for some excellent race management.

Overall Results: (Click here to fill in Gear Guide information)