Cadet Nationals at Pwllheli Sailing Club - Day 1

Champagne conditions greeted the Cadets (and their parents) who made the journey to Pwllheli SC for the 2007 Cadet National Championships.

A record entry of more than 160 boats is celebrating the class’s 60th Anniversary in style. And with competitors from 8 foreign countries using the Championship as a warm up for next week’s Worlds, an already hot fleet has become scorching!

To cope with the huge entry, the Main Fleet has been split into four groups, who will race against each other over the coming week in two heats per race. The Regatta (novices) fleet is having its own event on a seperate course.

Day 1 dawned with brilliant sunshine and a 12 to 16 knot North Westerly, which revealed Cardigan Bay at its very best.

Race 1a began on time, with the fleet getting away at the first attempt. Josh Pistol and Jack Wilson in Pintail soon established a convincing lead, and were never headed to take a convincing win. Defending champions Katrina and Christopher Brewer in Executrix pulled through as the race progressed to take second place. Australians Joel Aulich and Jarad Cavanah in Odyssey were third.

Race 1b saw rather more place changing. Josh and Naomi Flack in Heatseeker put in a storming performance to pull through the leading group to take the winner’s gun, with Peter Lawrance and Ole Alcock in Hypnosis making equally impressive gains to pull through to second, just ahead of George Ayre and Lizzie Halling in Pure Genius.

Race Officer Roger Wilson quickly started the sequence for Race 2a, with the breeze remaining steady in both direction and strength. After another clean start, the Brewers in Executrix showed impressive speed to take their first win of the Championship. Belgians Wouter de Munck and Joke Lakiere in The Red Baron pushed them hard, but the visitors had to be content with second spot. Lukasz Kawinski and Damian Frank from Poland were third.

Race 2b also started cleanly. Peter Lawrance and Ole Alcock in Hypnosis, Chris Videlo and Maddie Harris in Mostly Harmless, and George Ayre and Lizzie Halling in Pure Genius had a race-long tussle, with Pure Genius taking the gun ahead of Mostly Harmless, with Hypnosis coming in third.

After a break for lunch and a well deserved rest, the fleet was away cleanly in Race 3a. Once again, Katrina and Christopher Brewer in Executrix took a well deserved victory, leading from start to finish. Oliver Herve and Alex Warrington in Freestyle came in second, with Polish entries Michal and Agata Tomaszewski taking third place.

Which brings us to the naughty Red and Pink groups who were competing in Race 3b! It took the fleet no less than 4 attempts to start (the last two under a black flag), and after no doubt trying the Race Officer’s patience to the limit, they eventually got going – though without the 10 boats who were black flagged and sent home.

The long wait obviously fired up Molly Bridge and Hettie Penman in Purple Haze, because they held pole position from start to finish to take a well deserved victory ahead of Amy Seabright and Hannah Muskett in Lady in Red, who in turn came in just ahead of Chris Videlo and Maddie Harris in Mostly Harmless.

So, all in all, an excellent to start to the Anniversary Nationals. After the appalling poor weather of the last few weeks, North Wales produced a fantastic day’s racing, which has left everyone hoping for more of the same over the next few days.