420 class at the Datchet Flyer

After the recent nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19, many sailors were yearning to get back on the water and get racing again. With one day of racing scheduled for double handed sailors, the 420 fleet took this opportunity to show up in force.

The 2020 Datchet Flyer saw a fleet of 50 double-handers racing in tricky 8-12 knot conditions, with thirteen 420s taking part: the largest class on the water! With the fleets split into slow and fast, the 420s hotly contested the front end of the slow fleet.

The first race saw a good start from Julia Staite & Bee Harris, who lead round the windward mark with four other 420s making up the remainder of the top five boats. However, the close proximity of boats led Megan Farrer & Ellie Rush to take the lead, with Julia & Bee and Ollie Meadowcroft & Oscar Cawthorne hot on their tails. By the end of the second beat, this front three had been reeled in by the chasing pack of 420s, and after multiple changes of position, Megan & Ellie would take the win, with Ollie & Oscar in second and Alice Davis & Olly Rayner close behind in third.

The following race saw Ollie & Oscar make a strong start off the pin end to cross the fleet, and with this they established a good lead round the windward mark, with Alice & Olly, Julia & Bee and Megan & Ellie forming a chase pack behind. After a boat-on-boat incident caused Ollie & Oscar to slow, Alice & Olly slipped through into the lead, and established a huge lead to take the win. Megan & Ellie took second after a hard-fought battle with Ollie & Oscar who took third.

The final race saw a large left-hand shift, which Megan & Ellie capitalized on to take an early lead. Scarlett Cawthorne & Cally Terkelsen followed close behind, with many 420s forming a pack after that. This early lead would be short lived however, as Alice & Olly and Julia & Bee caught them at the top of the second lap. These problems would only grow larger as the chase group of Ollie & Oscar and Scarlett & Cally joined in with their close battle on the second run, and it became a close five-way race to take home the victory.

However, Alice & Olly sailed conservatively against the rival 420s to take the well-earned victory, closely followed by Megan & Ellie and Julia & Bee.

In the Handicap results, five 420s were seen in the top twenty - impressive considering the light conditions. Most notable was Alice & Olly in eleventh, who sailed excellently to beat multiple Youth Squad boats. Megan & Ellie followed closely in twelfth, and Ollie & Oscar took fourteenth. Overall a strong showing from the 420 fleet in some very tough and variable conditions.

This was a fantastic day of racing and is the first of many exciting weekends for the 420 class. Next weekend (December 12th/13th) will see Youth Squad heading to Poole YC, accompanied by the world class duo of Jonny & Marsbar. As well as this, on the 19th/20th December we will see the 420 fleet head to Itchenor for the inaugural Xmas regatta, which will see the 420s get to battle it out in some brilliant racing in Chichester harbour.

Beyond that, we can only hope to see the return of the legendary 420 socials in 2021!