J/24 Fowey Shield at Fowey Gallants Sailing Club
by Amy Fisher 2 May 2013 12:09 BST
27-28 April 2013
J/24 Fowey Shield © Amy Fisher
The first J/24 regatta of the season was hosted by Fowey Gallants SC over the last weekend in April.
Race Officer Peter Morgan setting a Windward-Leeward course with the majority of the fleet sailing under jibs in the gusty north-westerly breeze, leading to flat water yet shifty conditions and giving challenging tactical decisions for all crews as to which side of the beat to take and how to best judge the ebbing tide. This led to several boats requiring some slick pirouettes between the windward and spreader mark. Each race was around 40 minutes with a quick turnaround between races. Every leg and mark rounding proved testing as inevitably, over the short course, traffic became congested at times and, certainly on our boat, we were feeling the strain by race 5 in terms of depleted energy levels.
Sunday brought a steady 10 knots from SW with all crews sailing under genoas. The start-line throughout the weekend was highly competitive with helms vying for best position. The PRO black flagged Races 4, 7 & 8 with 5 boats paying the price of being on the wrong side of the line.
Many thanks go to Rear Commodore Tom Owen of the Fowey Gallants inviting the UK J/24 fleet to Fowey, to Race Officer Peter Morgan, St Austell Brewery for a welcome refreshment and finally to Paul and Rachel Toms for their commitment in hosting this popular event.
It was a great weekend sailing and has set the bar for some great competition for the J/24 season. The next event is the Southern Aras at Parkstone YC over the weekend of 25/26 May which should yield some equally fierce competition across the fleet. More details can be found on the J/24 class website www.j24class.org.uk
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | Sail No | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Madeleine | 4265 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 14 |
| 2 | Hitchhiker | 4242 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 17 |
| 3 | Jiggy 2 | 4268 | 5 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 25 |
| 4 | Jumba | 4241 | 7 | 4 | 7 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 32 |
| 5 | Jawbreaker | 4271 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 2 | DSQ 14 | 9 | 37 |
| 6 | Legal Alien | 4064 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 10 | 7 | 5 | 40 |
| 7 | Jeli | 4260 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 3 | DSQ 14 | 52 |
| 8 | Illuminator | 4245 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 11 | 12 | DSQ 14 | 12 | 54 |
| 9 | Jolly Roger | 4270 | 6 | 10 | 6 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 9 | 11 | 54 |
| 10 | Hijack | 4147 | 13 | 6 | 12 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 60 |
| 11 | Team Redrow | 4026 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 8 | 13 | DSQ 14 | 7 | 61 |
| 12 | Skilled Services | 4248 | 4 | 11 | 11 | DNC 14 | DNC 14 | 9 | DSQ 14 | 8 | 71 |
| 13 | Phoenix | 4222 | 10 | 8 | RTD 14 | DNC 14 | DNC 14 | 7 | 8 | 10 | 71 |