420 Grand Prix 3 at Chew Valley Lake Sailing Club

The final 420 GP was held at Chew Valley Sailing Club alongside the Fireball inland championships on 6/7 November. The weekend consisted of six races in shifty, gusty winds.

In the first race the wind was around 15 knots, it took me a minute to find my feet and we struggled off the line having to tack straight away. However, this seemed to work for us as we managed to come in nicely at the windward mark after choosing the right hand side of the course. After two storming reaches, we rounded the leeward mark for the second lap. Over the course of the race Joe and Hugo found their way through the fleet to finish the race in first, Oliver and Alice behind in second and Oli and Tom in third.

In the second race, we managed a much better start, and this time no one was over. The course was the same again, and with the Fireballs racing in the same area there were a few close calls at mark roundings. We did manage to capsize on a tack in this race after the jib didn't uncleat but I guess that's the downside of sailing with your dad for the weekend. We managed to fix our mistake though and came away with fourth. By the end the top two remained the same size the first race, with Henry and Hector recovering from an OCS in the first race to come away with third.

The final race of the day saw Joe and Hugo knocked of their top spot by Ellie Rush, who was helming this weekend for Finlay Oliver. This race ended with Joe and Hugo in second, and Kt and Lia in third. Then we were in for the evening for dinner with the Fireballs.

420 Grand Prix 3 at Chew Valley - photo © Jon Cawthorne

The second day started with lighter winds, it didn't take long to pick back up though, the gusts came in quick favouring the left hand side of the course. In the first race we made it to the windward mark first with Alice and Oliver closely behind. However we hadn't checked the board before the start of the race and began a reach; Joe and Hugo led the fleet down to the leeward mark for the windward - leeward course and we did the best we could to catch back up to the front.

This race ended once again with Joe and Hugo in first, Kt and Lia in second and Mathias and Ellie in third.

In the second race of the day we managed to get the course right, and after a very competitive race and a beautiful lift that took us all the way to the windward mark, we ended the race with a win. Joe and Hugo right on our tail in 2nd and Alice and Oliver in 3rd.

In final race of the day, the front three found themselves a long way in front. Once again Joe and Hugo took the win, Alice and Oliver in second, and Oli and Tom in third.

After the results were calculated, Joe and Hugo won overall as well as first Under 17 with a total of just six points to count across six races. Alice and Oliver finished second, then me [Imogen Wade] and my dad finished in third. Fourth overall and first Girls were Katie Byne and Lia Horne.

The next event is the End of Seasons at Grafham. Looks like it will be a big entry.

420 Grand Prix 3 at Chew Valley - photo © Jon Cawthorne

Overall Results:

420 Grand Prix 3 at Chew Valley - photo © Jon Cawthorne