Lightning 368 National Championship at Northampton Sailing Club

Held at Northampton SC, the 2015 Lightning368 Nationals (5th & 6th September) provided a weekend of consistent challenge to the competing helms. Never quite too windy and never quite too light - enough to keep everyone throughout the fleet smiling and able to enjoy all six races.

The now customary Friday night gathering in the club bar was enjoyed by all of those early arrivals as we indulged in the superb hospitality always received at Northampton, before retiring to what proved to be a chilly and very wet night for the hardy campers!

Entertainment was provided early on Saturday morning when Rupert Whelan arrived with a fully-laden triple stack of Lightnings...which was doubly impressive because lovely as Rupert is, 'height' isn't one of his physical attributes so, after searching out any 6-footers on the campsite, the boats were carefully unloaded.

Rupert also added International flavour to the event by bringing along resident Californian Will Deutsch who was actually going to be flying home following the weekend event. See, who says Lightning sailing isn't glamourous?

Anyhow, conditions were proving tricky for our OD with a wildly swinging breeze, but race one got underway over a nice, simple course that had been well-set by the race team who were very keen to offer us up the fairest and best courses available all weekend.

The race set something of a pattern straight away as Robbie Claridge scorched away to an unassailable lead - even lapping some of the high fleet Supernovas that we were sharing the event with! He really was in a class of his own. Keeping up family honours, Robbies dad John was rolling back the years taking his new boat to the top table to finish second, from Caroline Key to round off the race one rostrum.

Race two and, with the breeze fairly stable, we set off on the same course and, again, Robbie headed to the horizon never to be seen until sometime during lunch! John finished second and, with the breeze showing signs of easing down, Clive Evans pulled third out of the bag before the break for sustinence.

The galley provision at Northampton always makes a difficult choice: "Keep eating this lovely food or go back sailing?"....tearing ourselves away from the food, race three was started with Lee and Tony chancing their arm at a port-end flyer...with mixed results to be honest, Lee doing better to cross a few and duck a few whilst Tony bottled it and tacked out of it fairly quickly. Mind you, his beautifully prepared boat didn't deserve any scratches so perhaps defence was the better form of valour.

Whilst form was being maintained up at the front - Robbie heading off on his own once again - one person beginning to show his cards was Spike Daniels. Spike had purchased his boat from ebay the weekend prior to this event. Sailed it for the first time on the Wednesday then got himself locked out of his van (where all his sailing kit was being stored!) about half an hour before race one. So, to be up amongst the top end of the midfleet runners showed a remarkable amount of composure and, in finishing this third race in fifth place, showed that he was a newcomer to start to be concerned about for those battling for the points.

Robbie first, Clive second and Paul White putting in his first top three appearance is how this one finished.

Race four and the final one for Saturday saw a bit of a delay when a capsized Supernova bought about an abandoned start - and it was starting to get a bit chilly as well. However, another clean start for the fleet - with Lee having another go at a port flyer - saw a real sprint in the swirly, shifty conditions and threat of rain.

Robbie pretty much sealed things with another win, but with only one discard through the whole weekend there was theoretically a chance for others to catch up on Sunday.

The same finishing order as race three saw us head ashore for a well-earned meeting with a beer before the Saturday night festivities at the bar and 'after-party' over at 'Dodd-Bratley Towers'.

Sunday dawned bright and almost breeze-less. However, experience after a few years at this venue suggested that the wind would arrive and it duly did, almost on time but moving around a lot, as well as putting us down at the other end of the water to the previous day.

A delayed start to let the wind settle gave many the chance to actually get out to the race area in time following the previous evenings exertions and we got away cleanly, again, to open up day two. Lee Bratley decided, unusually, to get mixed up in the start melee this time after studying the day one results. He'd seen an opportunity to land a decent result (for once!) and went for an aggressive strategy....which failed to pay off when, firstly, he ran into Charlie Whelan pretty much on the starting hooter, secondly got stuck in irons after messing up his penalty turns and, thirdly, hit the windward mark at the first time of asking. Dumped at the back of the fleet he had to pull out his 'emergency recovery' song (Apparently this years emergency song was 'Vindaloo'!) to make a sterling recovery to midfleet, not enough to catch Charlie and Hugh though so that first ever top ten finish was looking hugely doubtful now.

Robbie sealed the weekend with another win in some quite tricky conditions and over a shorter course that saw the Supernova fleet catching several of the Lightnings, so bringing another set of tactics into play for many.

The lovely Penny Yarwood popped up into second for this one to all but secure the ladies trophy, with Paul sailing to third to setup a grandstand battle between himself and John for the overall second place.

Race two and the final race of the 2015 Nationals went off cleanly, yet again, with Robbie ahead of the pack to round off an exceedingly dominant Nationals weekend.

John and Paul did battle throughout the race with John winning out in the race to take second with Paul third. John securing Second overall for the weekend by just two points from Paul in Third.

So, Robbie Claridge added the 2015 Lightning368 National Champion title to his list of awards this year showing superb boatspeed throughout the weekend. John Claridge was Second and Paul White Third.

The award for the first Giles-built boat went to Clive Evans who finished Fourth overall, with the winner of the 'Silver' fleet going to the newcomer Spike Daniels.

Winning the Ladies Trophy was Penny Yarwood, the Stewartby Shield winner was Robbie Claridge and this years 'Most Improved' award went to the ever-smiling Emma Dodd.

We can't end without making note of the incredible effort put in by all at Northampton SC. From the start everything simply 'happened' - We know that arranging events and organising all that goes with them is far from easy, but you truly made it all look effortless and that is testament to the enthusiasm that all at the club have for our sport.

A massive thanks to the incredible galley team, to the bar team, to the patrol boat crews and, of course to our magnificent OD through the weekend. Determination to offer up the fairest courses possible, treating the whole weekend in an exceedingly professional manner and not being afraid to make some key decisions made for magnificent race management. Hats off to you sir.

Thanks should also go to all in the Supernova fleet for your consideration out on the water. I know the well-thought out courses didn't lend themselves to any clashes, but on the whole the two fleets managed to get along pretty well, so thankyou to you all.

So that's it for another year, the weekend finished on a sunny note - enough to make Will think that he was back in California (really?) and a great time was certainly had by all.

Next up for the Lightnings is the latest round of the 2015 Grand Prix series on Saturday October 3rd over at Hunts SC.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Lightning 368 nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here