Zhik 29er National Championship at the WPNSA - Day 1
by Paul Hammett & Sue Ormerod 14 Aug 2017 09:51 BST
12-17 August 2017
Zhik 29er Nationals at the WPNSA day 1 © Paul Hammett
The Zhik 29er Nationals got under way with 3 of the scheduled 4 races sailed in 5-8 knots at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy. 75 entries in two flights are fighting for places in qualifying for the Gold and Silver Fleets. Qualifying is scheduled for at least 5 races before a split to the Final series.
Racing was very close across the Blue and Yellow flights after an early postponement and the SW sea breeze overcame the prevailing SE breeze.Two races were sailed in 6-8 knots before the wind eased off to 5 knots for the last race. Race Officer Stuart Childerley expertly relied on the Charlie board to keep each race to the desired 30 minutes.
In the Yellow flight 3 boats dominated and all ended on 9 points - Max Clapp/Ross Banham, Charlotte Ormerod/Daniel Lewis and Freya Black/Orla Mitchell, while Alice Handley / Zoe James took a race win to hold 4th. While in Blue flight the racing was more open with Hannah Bristow / Emily Covell on 11 points followed by Jessie Main / Jess Jarman on 14 points and Norwegian visitors Mathias Berthet / Alex Franks-Penty on 20 points.
Racing continues on Tuesday with 4 scheduled races plus a possible extra 5th race though the weather forecast looks unclear with a range of 5-12 knots depending on which App you look at.
In any event more close racing can be expected with a flights shuffled after the first days racing for Day 2.
Qualifying results so far can be found here.