J/24 Annual Round Up of UK Racing
by Mark Penfold 25 Oct 2010 10:34 BST
J/24 worlds at Malmö, Sweden day 3 © Malmö Segel Sällskap
The world’s top One Design Keelboat and daddy of sportsboat boom continues to enjoy competitive racing and a high standard of competition in the UK. Regular club racing in Poole, Weymouth, Plymouth, Fowey & Falmouth and a healthy open meeting circuit across the same venues complement international competition, where the J/24 World Championship and its national qualification series still attract the world’s top sailors and sailmakers.
This season ended with a popular victory for J/24 veteran Jim Anderson, at the Autumn Cup in Plymouth. Jim has been a regular at UK and International regattas over the years and on this occasion was crewed by son James and friends, from Plymouth University, the combination of experience and youth proving unbeatable. They notched up two race wins and were never out of the top three. This is believed to be a first regatta win in Jim’s 29 years of continuous J racing and ownership!
The season began in April with the Fowey Trophy attracting 13 boats and Duncan McCarthy & Steve Phelps’ “Madeleine” continuing where they left off with a fine regatta win from Stuart Jardine and David Cooper. Jardine continued to be the benchmark boat in the UK, with a consistent series of results giving him second place in the UK overall points by the end of the season. Cooper didn’t quite manage the same level of consistency as last year, but none the less scored fourth overall in the rankings.
The International Paints Poole Keelboat Regatta provided the backdrop to the Spring Cup, where the line up of 17 boats was one up on the equivalent event last year. The heavy conditions proved no problem for the Madeleine team, picking up their second win of a season that would eventually see them finish third in the rankings. This was also the first outing of the season for Bob Turner’s “Serco”, who put down a strong marker, with second place. In third, despite a serious injury to owner David Lush, was Hugh Styles in “Time on the Water” - let’s hope we see more of him (and David) next season.
Continuing the trend of running our events in conjunction with local regattas, the fleet’s next stop was Weymouth for the Henri-Lloyd Weymouth Regatta and the Southern Area Championships. With 17 boats, attendance was well up on Weymouth’s last open meeting, which augurs well for next year’s Nationals, to be held in conjunction with the same event. The best conditions of the year provided the closest racing, with Stouche, Madeleine and Serco fighting tooth and nail into the last race, and finishing only 2 points apart, with Serco taking the spoils from Stouche.
This proved an excellent work-up for Serco, who took their form into the European Championships, which was another dog-fight that went down to the last 100 meters of the final race. In a tense finish that is now part of J/24 folklore, defending champion Alexandros Tagaropoulos did all he could by finishing first and could only watch as Serco tussled with German boat Xenon to scrape in high enough to beat the Greeks.
In the end, Serco prevailed and Nathan Batchelor was crowned European Champion by one point. This was a fantastic reward for this year’s outgoing International Chairman Bob Turner and his crew, who have been so close to major wins in the past, but this time finally nailed it! Stouche and Madeleine also managed top ten finishes, with Stig McDonald in 17th and William Pollock - in a welcome venture on the road - taking 19th in his new boat “Flying Colours”.
Next stop for 8 of the UK fleet was Sweden for the World Championships. They were joined by the Hedgehog crew in their new boat Il Riccio, who continued their combative advance on the world title with second place, this time forsaking most of their Ullman sails in favour of Norths. Top UK fleet regulars, with fifth place, were again the crew of Serco, helmed by Nathan Batchelor and sailing consistently well. This was the standout result in what was otherwise a disappointing but enjoyable regatta for the British fleet.
Returning to more familiar waters, the fleet repaired to Falmouth for the National Championships and a return to racing for twice National Champion Gavin Watson, helming “Reloaded”, who made it three wins in a row in imperious style, with a race to spare. Stuart Jardine again set a benchmark standard, sailing typically fast and smart and pushing Watson briefly back into second place in mid-regatta, before finally having to settle for second.
Naturally, when this was put to him after the event, the 77 year-old remarked that he didn’t want to be the bench mark “I want to win the damn thing again”! Pushing Jardine all the way for second was the steadily improving Roger Morris, sailing “Jolly Roger”, whose canny sailing and regular crew also took him to a best ever fifth place in the rankings.
All in all, it was a season to remember and a reminder that, after all these years, the J/24 still sets the bar very high for the many wannabee classes spawned by its success in creating the Sportsboat boom!