Harken 29er Grand Prix Round 6 at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

Harken 29er GP at Torbay © UK 29er Class

Harken 29er GP at Torbay © UK 29er Class

Harken 29er GP at Torbay © UK 29er Class

Royal Torbay Yacht Club hosted the Harken 29er Grand Prix 6 on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of July, and it was a great chance to get some competitive racing in before the Nationals. The forecast for the event looked marginal throughout, however, local knowledge continued to assure the sailors that a steady sea breeze would come through.

Saturday came and the fleet launched in flat, light conditions with the aim to complete 5 races as Sunday's forecast wasn't looking as good. All 5 races were completed in building conditions which finished with a brisk 12 knots. This put more emphasis on boat speed and saw a change in the pairings taking the race wins.

At the end of day one the fleet was led by Caitlin Webster and Dani Middleton on twelve points, closely followed by Pierce Harris and Alfie Cogger in second on thirteen points. The top five boats finished the day with only 8 points splitting them which led for an exciting climax on the Sunday.

Sunday morning came and the Bay was patchy at best. However, with the temperature rising there was optimism in the dinghy park. The launch flag went up almost perfectly in sync with the breeze stabilising meaning it was all systems go for the Race Committee and sailors.

The first race provided some excitement as a number of crews were caught out by the black flag including the boats sitting in first and second place from the night before. Ewan Luke and Zac Blomeley managed to capitalise on the mistake and post a 3rd in race 6 meaning they took the lead. However, they could not hold onto this and in the final two races were overtaken. Pierce and Alfie's consistency meant that their discard worked in their favour and, although counting the same total as Caitlin and Dani in the final two races, won with a 4 point lead.

Ewan and Zac managed to hold on to 3rd place whilst first girls went to Caitlin and Dani as well as them finishing second overall. First mixed were the pairing of Toby Cope and Jess Jobson who performed well considering it was their first competitive sail together.

Congratulations to Pierce and Alfie who sailed the most consistently over the weekend and emerged well deserved winners. A massive thank you to RTYC for holding some fantastic racing, for entertaining us to a super social evening with a brilliant BBQ, all the competitors for attending and HARKEN for supporting the event so well. Next stop the Nationals!

Harken 29er GP at Torbay - photo © UK 29er Class

Overall Results: