Supernova Inland Championship at Blithfield Sailing Club - Preview
by Chris Hawley 2 Sep 15:20 BST
15-16 September 2018
Cliff Milliner during the 2018 Supernova Nationals © Jon Worthington
The weekend of 15 and 16 September sees the Supernova Inland Championship take place at Blithfield Sailing Club. This inclusive and friendly event is open to all Supernova Class Association members and features a good social following the Class' AGM, hosted by Class Chairman Chris Hawley.
Once again we expect a good turnout to support the Class following the move to a new venue for the Inlands. The Supernova Class has excellent momentum at the moment with amazing turnouts at events such as the nationals. One of the particular areas of growth is the number of female sailors in the Class, which could be following the redesign of the official small sail.
With so many talented sailors in our Class at the moment you could say there are dozens who could win the event. However, we've said that for years and have yet to be proved right.
Last year we previewed the event as a "Pistols at Dawn" for two of our members, where their dominance of the Inlands Trophy predates Game of Thrones starting on TV: No-one else has touched the trophy since 2007!
- Mike "Gibbo" Gibson - The master of calling the right shift at the right time. In the right place too much of the time to call it luck, this guy seems to have powers over the wind direction.
- Cliff Milliner - King of tweaking stuff to make it that bit better. All of those 1%s add up and Cliff is known for finding that extra gear when he needs to and always getting to the front. His work ethic in the boat is phenomenal as he is never one to be outdone on or off the water.
Cliff did in fact take the overall win, moving him to 6 overall inlands wins (Mike is on 4).
Whilst the focus will be on these two, there are some other names who could throw a spanner in the works....
- Gavin Young - The really on form guy of the moment, winning a few events this year including Bowmoor this weekend. Has upwind pace like no-one else on the circuit.
- Matt "merlin" Biggs - Matt hasn't had much time in the boat this year, but he certainly knows what he is doing. At his home club, he should know the way round....
- Alex Horlock - Was on pace at Bowmoor, fresh from a season in the front of a RS400. If it's windy I'd put my money on Alex!
We hope to see you there for what looks to be a great event.