HYS 1720 Nationals at the Royal Southern Yacht Club

A variety of conditions for the HYS 1720 and J80 nationals © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

A variety of conditions for the HYS 1720 and J80 nationals © Paul Wyeth / www.pwpictures.com

The Hamble Yacht Services J/80 and 1720 UK National Championships were held in the Solent under the burgee of the Royal Southern Yacht Club from the 10th to 13th of June. A sportsboat sailor himself, the PRO for the event was Nick Hollamby. The series consisted of eight races each for the 1720s and for the J/80s, which were sailed in a variety of conditions from five to twenty-eight knots over the course of the three days.

In the 1720 fleet, whilst Ricochet seemed to have things all her own way initially, never slipping out of the top two boats for the first five races, the rest of the fleet took a little while to slip in to their stride but pressed Ricochet hard on the water with some nail-bitingly close races and mark roundings and several finishes which were defined only by mere fractions of boat lengths.

Tom Clay and family sailing Finn M’Coul had just one result outside of the top three and was able to discard this, earning him second place in the Championship. Rob Derham of Cardiff, racing Merlin had a major battle with Neil Angel’s Alltalk; a proper fight to the finish which resulted in both boats earning equal points but with Merlin clinching third place on count-back.

Hamble Yacht Services (HYS), the event sponsor gave both fleets free use of their launch and lift facilities for the duration of the event, along with some great prizes, and whilst the benefit of HYS’ investment in the event, the three J/80s which were racing for the charity Toe In The Water could not have competed at the National Championship without their support. This charity aims to speed the recuperation and rehabilitation of injured servicemen and women through sailing, and it seems to work; Kev O’Brien’s Toe In The Sky topped the three in fourteenth place and Sam Mettam’s Toe In The Sea came in sixteenth overall leaving Lloyd Hamilton and his team on Toe In The Sand in nineteenth and buying the beers. Those Toe In The Water boys and girls were certainly thirsty…

The prize-giving took place on Saturday night at the Club. Along with the Championship trophies and the prizes from the event sponsor, Hamble Yacht Services, a brand new trophy and prize was presented at the event, kindly donated by the Church House Inn in Marldon, Devon, for the Best Corinthian 1720 Team. This went to new national champions, Steve and Tom Forrester-Coles.

The winning skippers from each fleet thanked Hamble Yacht Services, fellow competitors, the Race Officer and all at the Royal Southern Yacht Club for running a superb regatta. Or, as Kevin Sproul put it ‘Pretty much a perfect event’.

Overall Results: