18ft Skiff National Championship at Parkstone Yacht Club
by Jack Grogan 9 Sep 2015 13:02 BST
5-6 September 2015
What a treat!
The 18ft skiff class is, as far as I know, the only class that gets to sail off the beach at Sandbanks in Poole and you have to keep pinching yourself to remember you are in the UK. The event is hosted by the water sports academy and run by Parkstone Yacht Club, which makes such a location possible so let's start with the praise for them.
Day 1
With a solid turnout of eight boats and a couple of boats out of hibernation the scene was set for a great event. You do not need many boats in the 18ft skiff class to make it seem very busy, with very high closing speeds, even in 8 knots of a breeze, and boats 20ft wide when the crews are trapezing.
Race 1 got underway in light puffy conditions. Pica made the most of the start by pulling off port end flyer to lead at the top mark from Hyde sails and LED. At the final downwind mark Hyde Sails had pulled right back up to Pica and opted to roll the dice on the next beat in search of victory, this proved to be very stupid and it eroded their margin over the 3rd place boat Nene Outdoors, who had overhauled LED and then Hyde Sails, due to their risky strategy. Final placings 1.Pica 2. Nene Outdoors 3rd Hyde Sails.
Race 2 saw chaos at the start. Pica and Nene outdoors, thought they would try for a port end flyer again, however with the fleet now back in touch with their time and distance was not going to let this happen. It resulted in some serious avoiding action from the fleet to dodge the bad mannered boats. Pica managed to do their turns and were left at the back, however a bang the corner approach paid and it got them back up to 4th by the top mark. Leading at the top mark was Hyde sails, followed by LED and FP. The positions stayed the same for 1 lap until a big puff on the downwind saw a complete reshuffle – Pica now in the lead and staying there to the finish followed by LED and Nene.
Race 3, now with more breeze the crews were 3 stringing up and down the course. At the top mark Hyde sails again were leading, however Pica and LED got through on the run. By the top mark second time positions were same but down the run Hyde sails were coming to the leeward mark in new pressure flying, however with a gybe drop on the cards with not much room they went swimming, the middle man missing his trapeze after the gybe and therefore leaving 2 on board, which resulted in the inevitable swim. This allowed FP to take the position. Leaving 1. Pica, 2. Led, 3. FP.
Day 2
With the sun shining and it looking like the Med in summer the fleet rigged on big rigs and got out to the start line in the lightest wind possible.
Race 4. Hyde sails made the most of a port end start, before tacking on to starboard and heading towards to the pressure which was coming from the land, during this Pica hit Hyde resulting in more turns for Pica. At the top FP lead after a solid beat followed by Hyde Sails and English Braids the positions stayed the same until the next beat where there was some placing changing Pica made ground but then got the wrong side of the shift and ended up really deep. FP extended and LED came from nowhere up the middle to round 2nd. Leaving FP to win followed by LED then Hyde. Pica came in 5th putting a blip in their faultless performance so far.
Race 5, after an aborted race due to no wind the sea breeze kicked in and it was perfect sailing. All boats behaved and started well all on starboard! Half way up the beat pica tacked and ducked the 3 leaders, which were FP, Hyde and LED. However the right seemed to work with the wind being steady this may have been a tide related gain, which allowed Pica and Nene to lead at the top, leaving the others well behind. LED managed to pass Nene to claim 2nd from Pica.
Final race was held in glamour conditions again. The start was clean Hyde sails opted to start on port to get out to the right where the tidal gain seemed to be, this paid dividends they crossed everyone once they had tacked back but where just too tight on their lay line and managed to catch the top mark which put them out the back of the pack. LED and pica then ensued in a race long battle with Nene, with Pica coming good and taking the title too, from LED and Nene.
Summary
It was a fantastic event - it always is. It was the classes 3rd time to Sandbanks. Next year it may be run as a European GP event (watch this space) so it will be even bigger, it could not be better. The class's health is great. We have 2 new boats arrived from Australia and also people wanting to come into the class. The classified boats currently on the market are of the highest standard and would make very viable boats for competing at the top level in Europe. The class will be at the dinghy show and offering a try and 18 day next year.
We would love to see some new faces. Get 3 your mates together, all pay for a third, and come enjoy the friendly atmosphere and fastest racing out there.