J/24s at the PPSA Port of Plymouth Regatta
by Lorna Graham 19 Jul 2021 07:48 BST
10-11 July 2021
J/24s at the PPSA Port of Plymouth Regatta © Paul Gibbins Photography
Some excellent course setting by the race officer Sean Semmens and his team made for an exciting series of races to contest the J24 series with 4 windward/leewards on Saturday and 3 on Sunday.
Saturday saw around 8 - 10 knots from the south-east and the early pace upwind was set by Shane Hewlett in Phoenix with James Torr's Majic hot on his heels and Steve Wassell's Dogs Jorrocks also showing some good downwind speed to stay in contention.
Race 1 was won by Pheonix with Majic in second and Dogs Jorrocks in 3rd and this order was repeated in race 2. It became clear that Phoenix had too much pace upwind for the rest of the fleet and the battle grounds were being drawn up. Race 3 saw a change behind Phoenix with Dogs Jorrocks taking 2nd and Majic 3rd place.
The great thing about the J24 is there is great racing regardless of where you are in the fleet and boats had close duels all day throughout the standings. Dave Cooper in Jawbreaker, Tim Octon in NJO2 and William Pollock in Flying Colours were having close racing just a few boat lengths behind the top 3 as every second counts in this closely fought fleet. Race 4 saw the status quo return with Phoenix taking 1st and Majic Second. After day 1 Phoenix lead the way with 3 pts, Majic with 6 pts and Dogs Jorrocks with 7 pts.
Sunday saw an increase in the wind and a marked deterioration in the weather as crew battled it out again. Jawbreaker got to the windward mark first in race 5 but her glory was short lived as Phoenix got back in the groove to take the race win from Majic and NJO2 third.
As the rain fell even harder and the sea state increased race 6 saw phoenix continue her winning ways with excellent upwind speed and Dogs Jorrocks having a close encounter with Majic to take 2nd and Majic 3rd.
With her work completed Phoenix left the fleet to contest the final race and Majic took the spoils from Dogs Jorrocks and NJ02 taking third. The final placings were Phoenix 1st (6pts) Majic 2nd (13pts) and Dogs Jorrocks 3rd (15pts).
If you want to have close exciting racing for a very small outlay you really should consider getting a J24, they are great fun, reach over 10knts downwind, test the crews in all conditions and give you more bang for your bucks than any other boat, come and join the fun.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Shane Hewlett | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | (DNC) | 6 |
| 2 | James Torr | ‑4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
| 3 | Steve Wassell | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | ‑5 | 2 | 2 | 15 |
| 4 | Tim Octon | 2 | ‑7 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 24 |
| 5 | David Cooper | 5 | 4 | ‑6 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 29 |
| 6 | William Pollock | ‑8 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 32 |
| 7 | Mark Lewers | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | ‑8 | 4 | 6 | 36 |
| 8 | Chris Randall/Lloyd | 7 | ‑8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 5 | 43 |