2021 UK 18ft Skiff National Championship at Calshot
by Tom Hill 30 Aug 2021 09:42 BST
21-22 August 2021
Last weekend was the much anticipated 2021 UK 18ft Skiff National Championships. After a year away from racing, the UK fleet were keen to show who was the top dog and so the racing was always going to be tight.
It's been a strange year for forecasts at the Solent Grand Prix with anything from 3 knots to 30 knots. For this weekend the forecast was set for mid teens so the fleet were preying.
After work commitments and Covid meant some teams couldn't make it, the remaining boats were lined up for some close and competitive racing. The Black Dog joined the usual suspects to make for an impressive line up.
Day 1
The fleet arrived at Calshot with a certain buzz on Saturday morning. There was a selection of last minute mods being implemented across the boat park. Anything from rack nets to batten tensions were being looked at for that extra bit of reliability and speed before racing.
As it came to time for a rig call, there was a nasty 19knots reading on Bramble bank. This was more than forecast and seemed not to correlate with anything anyone had seen. This led to the whole fleet but one boat to plug in the two rig before launching for racing.
The big rig was definitely the rig of choice in hindsight. Union Rose sat pretty all day and dominated the racing as the other teams struggled to match their power in the 8-12 knots of breeze. In one race, they even gave the fleet a head start after being OCS and not turning back until a good way up the first beat. Meanwhile, the racing for the rest was hotly contested with some very heated start lines. It showed in results at the end of the day when only 3 points separated 2nd to 5th.
Day 2
There was a determined fleet on the beach on Sunday morning. Everyone had looked at the forecast and decided the big rig was the way to go. They weren't going to be following Union Rose around the course for another day. The Big Rig was definitely the way to go!
The fleet were greeted with 12-14 knots, some sun and a bit of Solent bump... perfect conditions to decide a UK national champion! Union Rose did not have it there way this time and all of the fleet has their nose in front at some point in the day. Babycham and Union Rose took race wins throughout the day, but Union Rose had made their lead too tough to challenge and managed to hold their slot on the podium to remain in first place over the weekend.
So the fleet have themselves a new UK Nationals Champion. Alex Lewin, Dan Harris and Jamie Jobson on Union Rose are well deserved winners of a weekend of exceptionally close racing. With a couple of boats being bought in recent weeks and some addictive racing at the front, it sets the fleet up for an excellent and competitive year in 2022!
A huge thanks goes to the growing race team who managed to fire off 8 races efficiently over the weekend and pushing the fleet to make the racing so close! Members of the race team are also pulling together some great media, head over to our Facebook page to watch Sunday's racing expertly commentated by Oscar Meadster for more on the water action.
The next and final round of the Grand Prix Series in 25th/26th September. Be sure to stay tuned!
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Union Rose | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3‑ | 2 | 11 |
| 2 | The Black Dog | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5‑ | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 17 |
| 3 | Babycham | 3 | 5‑ | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 19 |
| 4 | Rutland | 4 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 5‑ | 2 | 3 | 25 |
| 5 | The Time Genie | 5 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6‑ | 5 | 25 |