Allen 29er GP1 at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy - Day 1
by UK 29er Class Association 19 Sep 23:11 BST
19-20 September 2020
Allen 29er GP1 at Weymouth © Nia Mccallum
Allen GP1 at Weymouth is our first event in forever. 80 boats, sunshine and wind made it well worth waiting for. Yes, we had to comply with the rule of six and adapt to online communications to reduce risk of transmission BUT the 29er fleet is about the racing. With the support of the WPNSA race team, the racing was, as ever, superb. Some things do not change.
At nine the wind was frankly howling and the AP was put up. The wind dropped to a more manageable 14-16 knots and out went the fleet. With a medium chop and occasional powerful gusts, the conditions were challenging. To put it mildly. We were delighted at the use of mast floats (a great tool when getting to grips with a 29er in wind) and hope that the tough conditions did not deter our newest members.
There was a bit of chat in the boat park as to whether the wind shifts could be predicted or whether it was pure luck if you tacked on a shift. Our view ? On a day like today you needed solid boat handling skills to be able to focus on wind shifts rather than simply staying upright. Skill not just luck would move you consistently up the leaderboard.
So how did you do ?
First girls are 2344 Annie Hammett/Jess Jobson with 17 points. 2661 new pairing Monique Vennis-Ozanne/Abi Campbell are at 31 points with 2753 Sian Talbot/Maddie Bristow on 33 points. All to play for tomorrow.
First boys' team and first overall are 2982 Tom Storey/Ben Willett with three bullets and a second. Way to go ! Close behind in second are 2900 Ben Mueller/Freddie Lonsdale with first mixed and third overall 2905 Elodie Edwards/Ewan Wilson - both on five points. We sense a battle for the top spots tomorrow !
High spots of the day? A second for 2879 Robbie Macdonald/Archie Stokes in the first race in Blue fleet and a third for 2222 Robin Stein/Sam Brackley. Our first juniors are 2292 Issy Leetch/Solomon Wilby which proves as always that assisting marketing to move many boxes equates to several jumps up the leaderboard. 2545 Jamie Gatehouse/Oscar Morgan-Harris are second juniors with 2022 Kate Newman/Rudy Barr third juniors.
Tomorrow we face more sunshine (looking at the more optimistic forecasts) and wind. Enjoy!
Results so far can be found here.