Class 40 Worlds at the Royal Southern Yacht Club - Overall

by Lucy Burn 21 Aug 2009 22:23 BST 17-21 August 2009

First ever Class 40 World Champion decided

It could not have been tighter at the top going into the final day of racing at the inaugural Class 40 World Championship, with just 5 points separating the top 5 boats.

The day was not without incident as a major collision before the first start between Wilfred Clerton’s CGMER and Mike West’s Keysource - who had been lying in 2nd overall going into the final day - had the two boats racing in to the River Hamble for repair. Unfortunately neither made a return to the race area signaling the end of West’s hopes of winning the title.

Meanwhile on the water, a determined Simon Clarke on Clarke Offshore posted two 1st places in the first two races of the day with overnight leader Tony Lawson on Concise relinquishing his grip on the top spot posting a 2nd and a 4th. The Chilean team skippered by Felipe Cubillos on Desafio Cabo de Hornos was hot on their heels posting a 4th and 2nd; unfortunately it was not enough to keep him in the running for the title going into the last race.

The Championship title was taken in the final race by Lawson’s team on Concise crossing the line ahead of Clarke Offshore. Clarke’s 3 place penalty in the Round the Island Race proved to be costly as Lawson discarded his worst score and won the Championship by 2 points, with Clarke in 2nd and Felipe Cubillos in 3rd.

The winning team not only walked away as World Champions they also had new footwear; 6 pairs of Dubarry Ultima Boots, courtesy of event sponsor Dubarry of Ireland. In addition to this they were also awarded with a Raymarine C90W widescreen multifunctional display unit and 6 wireless man overboard Lifetags, courtesy of event sponsor Raymarine. The icing on the cake was winning the Round the Island Race and getting to take home the Pigbags Bean bag.

Simon Clarke’s team was awarded 6 Raymarine wireless man overboard Lifetags and a Ray101E Handheld VHF Radio.

Felipe Cubillos and his team also took home 6 Raymarine wireless man overboard Lifetags as well as 6 subscriptions to the Dailysail, courtesy of James Boyd at TheDailySail.

Chris Mansfield, Rear Commodore Sailing of the Royal Southern Yacht Club thanked the event sponsors; Raymarine, Dubarry of Ireland, Pike Pictures, the Dailysail and Pigbags for their generosity in supplying such a fantastic array of prizes for the competitors. He also thanked the team of volunteer race officers, led by Tony Lovell, for all their hard work on the water with a customary bottle of Gin. Finally the biggest thank you went to the competitors and class association for making the trip to the Hamble and providing such a fantastic spectacle on the water for their first World Championship.

Full results can be viewed at www.royal-southern.co.uk

Video from Simon Clarke's Class 40: (contains strong language)