Allen 29er GP1 at the WPNSA

Allen 29er GP1 at the WPNSA © 29er UK Class Association

Allen 29er GP1 at the WPNSA © 29er UK Class Association

The Allen flags were flying as sailors arrived at WPNSA on Saturday morning welcomed by a brisk northerly breeze. One by one the masts went up as the sailors prepared for what they thought would be a light and slightly shifty day.

With the boats rigged it was time for the briefing. It was a solemn briefing as we had a minutes silence in memory of her late Majesty the Queen. The briefing provided lots of useful information for both the experienced sailors and the many teams competing in their first ever 29er event. Recognising that it can be quite daunting for new teams transitioning to the 29er fleet, the class association organised a support rib and coach for the new teams, giving these sailors pre race boat set up tips, and an opportunity to ask questions/a base for between races.

The fleet launched into a light 12 knots of breeze with the sun warming up the chilled air, making for some perfect 29er racing conditions in the flat waters of Portland Harbour. Until that is we were about to get racing under way when the wind decided it didn't like where it was coming from and shifted 90 degrees! This delayed the start as the course was shifted to the new wind angle.

Finally we started, with a pin biased start causing some boats some trouble at the pin, Santi and Kuba, lead at mark 1 which seemed to be secure. however its not that simple in Weybiza with the shifting wind causing them to drop to 4th by the bottom mark with new partnership Charlie and Sam making some good calls and taking the race win. The racing carried on with a building breeze with Santi and Kuba taking the next two race wins.

We started race 4 but once again the wind had other ideas and a sustained 120 degree shift hit the fleet leading to this race being abandoned. Despite the best efforts of Race Officer Ian Bullock and his team we were unable to restart this race and the fleet returned to the shore.

The next day conditions wise looked relatively the same. A shift in Race 4 lead the run to be a one gybe run which caught out the early gybe setters Zeb and Fin took the race win. Race 5 followed swiftly with a rapid turn around time as we had another 4 races to get through.

Race 5 started with a building breeze, the fleet remained compact through out the race, making for some tight racing conditions, Charlie and Sam took the race win in this one and in Race 6.

James and Noah then took a swift race win in race 7 with a standout performance from Morven and Ollie who controlled the race most of the way round overtaking Jamie and Jamie at the bottom gate.

However the main drama was unfolding between James and Noah and Charlie and Sam who went into Race tied on countback. Race was close between the two teams from the offset with the final event result coming down to the last downwind leg, in the end Charlie and Sam pipped James and Noah by a meter at the line, making them the event winners.

It was a great vent and we have to thank WPNSA for allowing us to carry on with the event with the circumstances and a huge thank you to Allen for their continued support to the class.

Next event is GP2 at Lymington, the class will also be offering coached support to new teams for this event and this can be booked via 29er Our Club Admin.

Overall Results: