2019 UK IOM National Championship at Eastbourne & District Model Yacht Club

by GBR IOM Class 29 Aug 2019 07:03 BST 24-25 August 2019

2019 UK IOM Nationals at Eastbourne & District Model Yacht Club © Sue Brown / Catsails

With a heat wave forecast and light airs no doubt some were expecting a drifting conditions! However, the expected forecast over the complete weekend of gradient winds predominantly from the South Quarter along with sea breeze meant that there was always some wind to race with.

With fifty IOM's measured over Friday and first thing on Saturday morning the briefing & seeding races started on time with Rob Walsh, Chris Harris and Mark Dennis taking the honours.

Racing moved at a good pace and whilst there wasn't a lot of breeze there was more than enough to get quality races in with plenty of opportunity for coming back through the pack after a poor start or leg.

Racing eventually finished at approx 17:00 hrs due to dying breeze and hold ups whilst three protests were heard.

Results at this time were tight, Ante Kovacevic held a two-point lead from Rob Walsh. Chris Harris in third on 22 points with the following five skippers of Ballington, Jelacic, Watson & Richards all in close proximity on the scoreboard. A common theme down the scoresheet no matter where you were overall and further testament to how tight racing was on the water throughout the day.

Day two started on time in good breeze with Nigel Brown taking out race 7 and making steady progress in to the top ten overall. At the front both Ante Kovacevic and Rob Walsh were having a good tussle from races 7-9 always finishing one place ahead or astern of each other. By race 9 the breeze was moving more towards the South West with Phil Holliday taking the race win, thereafter there was a short delay whilst the course was moved further to the West side of Princes Park.

2019 UK IOM Nationals at Eastbourne & District Model Yacht Club - photo © Sue Brown / Catsails

Zvonko Jelacic on the new course had an impressive afternoon with two seconds and a first place in a bid to close on points to compatriot Ante Kovacevic and Rob Walsh.

With a protest in race 11b there was a short delay, whilst initially resolved, PRO Jes Collier after consultation with a regional judge decided with fairness in mind the hearing needed to be reopened, with the breeze now failing skippers were greeted with cold beers in the club house and then reassembled for the class social at Eastbourne Angling Club.

Monday morning dawned with plenty of sore heads after a great class social. With the original protest reheard subsequently two further requests for redress were submitted. Understandably this took a little time to resolve with race 12C being re-sailed late morning.

With the breeze continuing to shift following the sun as it had done on the two previous days the Eastbourne race team worked tirelessly to get three further races to take the final tally to fifteen races prior to the NOR cutoff.

Back at the front things were getting tight, with a demotion in race 14 to B fleet for Walsh and a first place for Kovacevic, Ante was only six points off the lead going into the final race championship decider.

After an extremely tight race won by Zvonko Jelacic with Ante Kovacevic second and Rob Walsh taking third place to retain the IOM UK National Championships.

Ante Kovacevic took out second place with Zvonko Jelacic taking the final podium position with Chris Harris a further 11 points back in fourth and Darin Ballington 19 points further back in fifth.

Craig Richards back in 8th was presented with the Vulturesoft trophy for the highest finisher to have not won a UK MYA National Championships or the trophy previously.

Bob Conner in 21st place was awarded a prize for being the most promoted skipper. Eric Van der Kindere was awarded a prize for completing the most number of observer duties. George Startup was awarded the prize for oldest skipper.

Prizes were presented by PRO & Eastbourne District MYC Commodore Jes Collier & Eastbourne Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Lloyd.

Rob Walsh wins the 2019 UK IOM Nationals at Eastbourne & District Model Yacht Club - photo © Sue Brown / Catsails

Ante Kovacevic finishes 2nd in the 2019 UK IOM Nationals at Eastbourne & District Model Yacht Club - photo © Sue Brown / Catsails

Zvonko Jelacic finished 3rd in the 2019 UK IOM Nationals at Eastbourne & District Model Yacht Club - photo © Sue Brown / Catsails

Thanks to the overseas skippers who joined us, Ante Kovacevic, Zvonko Jelacic, Martin Gray & Eric Van der Kindere, oh and Nick Martin from Wales!

A massive thank you to all at Eastbourne & District MYC, despite not only difficult conditions on the race course Jes Collier and the team had the added issue of protest hearings, every opportunity was always taken to ensure that fair decisions were taken for all skippers no matter where in the fleet. The Galley functioned faultlessly and were kept busy not only feeding the fleet but watered in the humid conditions.

Overall Results:

Pos	Skipper	Sail No	Club/City	Hull	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	R12	R13	R14	R15	Pts
1	Robert Walsh	25	Fleetwood	Britpop	1	2	4	8	2	8	2	1	6	1	3	9	2	16	3	43
2	Ante Kovacevic	130	Croatia	K2	4	7	1	6	1	3	3	2	7	7	6	8	5	1	2	48
3	Zvonko Jelacic	35	Croatia	K2	4	5	10	11	4	6	4	15	2	2	1	11	3	6	1	59
4	Chris Harris	21	Windrush	BritPop	1	6	7	1	10	7	7	8	3	4	9	12	1	14	6	70
5	Darin Ballington	98	Manor Park RSC	Britpop	10	1	3	7	3	10	8	6	10	11	5	10	19	8	8	89
6	Gavin Watson	44	West Cornwall RSC	Sedici	9	20	6	5	6	4	13	4	4	14	4	15	15	10	7	101
7	Graham Bantock	95	Chelmsford	Akziom	3	8	8	10	15	14	9	13	13	9	2	1	13	5	12	106
8	Mark Dennis	19	Chelmsford	Britpop	1	4	12	16	12	17	27	9	8	6	15	4	6	7	10	110
9	Craig Richards	12	Windrush	Greyhound	2	3	17	9	18	1	17	11	5	3	16	20	12	2	17	115
10	Nigel Brown	55	Gosport	Sedici	6	30	14	4	8	9	1	5	12	10	12	14	11	17	22	123
11	Nick Martin	1	Woodspring	Britpop	2	12	19	18	13	2	19	10	11	18	8	5	7	12	11	129
12	Tony Edwards	75	Yeovil Model Boat Club	BritPOP	9	21	20	21	21	5	14	7	15	5	13	6	8	9	5	137
13	Steve Taylor	43	Aberdeen MYC	Britpop	3	9	9	12	11	15	11	3	14	16	51	27	10	15	18	146
14	Robert Wilson	97	Leicestershire RYC	Britpop	5	11	11	17	14	12	6	14	18	33	27	13	9	13	14	157
15	Derek Priestley	67	Fleetwood	Dead Reckoning	10	14	15	14	7	18	5	19	24	19	8.5	23	17	11	9	166.5
16	Phil Holliday	66	Datchet Water RSC	Britpop	4	10	5	15	17	21	21	30	1	15	14	18	29	39	21	191
17	Ian Dundas	38	Aberdeen	Britpop	6	13	18	28	19	28	28	32	37	12	11	7	4	4	15	193
18	Brian Summers	7	Tayside Radio Sailing Club	Britpop	15	27	2	3	5	19	24	23	29	22	30	25	14	18	13	210
19	David Andrews	13	London MYC	Sedici	7	29	13	2	9	13	12	16	23	29	51	22	20	21	29	216
20	Mick Chamberlain	146	Lincoln	Sedici	8	25	22	19	24	25	15	12	17	13	10	17	30	19	33	226
21	Bob Conner	14	Woodspring Msc	Brit pop	18	47	31	23	23	22	16	31	16	8	7	3	18	30	16	231
22	Trevor Binks	72	Eastbourne	BRITPOP	8	24	29	33	37	11	10	18	25	28	23	2	16	27	33	254
23	Vernon Appleton	136	Chipstead Sailing Club	Britpop	9	37	23	13	16	23	18	22	9	17	28	29	26	32	27	260
24	Dave Allinson	4	Chipstead Sailing Club	Britpop	7	23	35	30	20	33	32	43	35	21	17	16	23	3	4	264
25	Roy Stevens	54	Scarborough MYC	BritPop	3	16	28	20	26	20	31	29	27	20	26	24	28	20	26	284
26	Julia Hancock	24	HCMYC	BritPop	11	22	21	22	29	27	20	20	19	34	22	30	25	26	24	288
27	Colin Walton	3	Manor Park	Britpop	7	31	30	25	22	16	26	21	31	38	34	31	21	25	20	306
28	John Owens	33	Aberdeen	Corbie 5	12	28	32	35	28	24	29	24	21	25	31	33	22	22	25	323
29	Jim La Roche	155	Coalhouse Fort RYC	Britpop	11	38	33	32	45	26	25	17	20	27	25	26	24	31	37	334
30	Martin Gray	183	USA	BritPop	8	17	25	26	31	37	44	35	36	26	24	28	32	23	23	334
31	David Adam	36	Three Rivers	Britpop	2	15	16	27	25	31	48	36	38	37	35	36	44	24	19	341
32	Peter Crisp	52	Chipstead SC Radio Sailing	Britpop	5	18	24	24	32	36	35	38	28	23	32	37	34	51	51	366
33	John Stuart‑Mills	198	Gosport	Kantun 2	13	26	26	29	27	29	23	27	30	31	41	35	45	41	44	378
34	John Cleave	0	Ryde	Chaste	18	51	40	37	33	48	42	33	22	24	8.5	21	33	40	43	394.5
35	Barry Martin	138	LMTC/MYSA	Britpop	6	33	35	38	30	34	35	37	44	51	29	34	36	34	38	419
36	Colin Hatton	46	Eastbourne & District MYC	DM3	13	34	46	42	36	42	40	40	45	35	43	19	27	29	33	433
37	Jerry Cavill	59	Windrush	V10	14	44	36	35	41	30	33	34	39	42	37	32	37	37	34	439
38	Terry Connell	47	Eastbourne	MMX	5	20	27	31	38	35	41	46	46	41	39	43	51	36	39	441
39	John Taylor	171	Cotswold Model Yacht Club	Ellipsis	12	40	41	41	49	41	22	25	33	40	36	38	41	38	36	443
40	Jen Hand	69	Lincoln Radio Sailing Club	Britpop	15	45	37	40	40	32	38	28	32	45	40	44	31	33	35	445
41	Eric Van der Kindere	57	France	Kantun 2	10	35	39	43	42	47	30	26	26	30	33	51	51	51	51	463
42	Stewart Campbell	50	Kinghorn RSC	Kantun 2	13	43	47	36	39	49	36	44	41	32	51	39	42	35	28	475
43	Dennis Graham	23	Coalhouse Fort RYC	Malteser	16	41	38	39	46	46	46	41	47	44	38	41	35	28	30	483
44	Keith Edgar	30	Bideford & District	Brit pop	12	32	43	45	34	43	45	39	40	47	44	40	39	44	42	497
45	George Startup	172	Chipstead Sailing Club	Fractal‑2	16	36	49	49	35	38	39	45	34	51	45	51	38	42	51	517
46	Anthony Marshall	474	Hove lagoon	Dubock	14	42	42	44	44	40	43	48	43	36	46	45	40	43	41	517
47	Barry Mayer	15	Birmingham MYC	Wedge	18	51	44	48	48	45	47	42	49	46	42	42	43	45	40	550
48	Tony Connell	133	Eastbourne	Lintel	14	39	48	47	43	39	37	47	48	43	47	51	51	51	51	554
49	David Kerridge	112	Harwich & Dovercourt	AB 6	11	46	45	46	47	44	51	49	42	39	51	51	51	51	51	573
50	Austin Guerrier	8	Datchet Water RSC	V10	18	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	51	630