Noble Marine Vaikobi UKLA Qualifier 6 at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy

26 Standards gathered at WPNSA for the last UKLA Noble Marine qualifier of the year. Saturday greeted us with some rather meaty conditions - 15 knots with gusts up to 20. After two relatively light wind autumnal qualifiers, this did seem to be a shock to the system for many.

Race 1 kicked off with the right hand side of Portland Harbour paying on the upwind leg and Sam Whaley lead at the windward mark, closely followed by Micky Beckett, Dan Whiteley and visiting Brit-turned-Italian Lorenzo Chiavarini. Whaley and Beckett had a battle on the downwind but after rounding opposite gates it was Beckett who came out on the 2nd beat to claim victory, which Whaley settling for second and Lorenzo third. Jake Farren-Price secured an easy 4th with James Percival-Cooke fifth.

Noble Marine Vaikobi UKLA Qualifier 6 at Weymouth - photo © Georgie Altham / www.facebook.com/galthamphotography

Race 2 started with Beckett and Whaley heading out left on a righty, however Lorenzo and Nick "Mr Element 6" Welbourn linked up the flatter water on the right to lead at the first mark. Lorenzo shot off downwind and took a solid win whilst Beckett and Whaley got past Nick to take second and third. James PC had a sweet second upwind to take fourth and Jake FP fifth, whilst Nick took the wrong gate and slipped to sixth.

Race 3 was another windy one and the legs of the fleet were definitely tiring. Sam Whaley lead around the windward mark again, closely followed by Lorenzo and Jake FP. A split on the run allowed Whaley to escape ahead whilst James PC and Lorenzo rounded the leeward gate together. Up the next beat Micky Beckett went on a mammoth roll train and shot up into second place, with Lorenzo and James PC fighting it out for third down the next run.

Whaley claimed victory, Beckett second, Lorenzo third and James PC fourth. First under 21 Finley Dickinson had a good race to finish fifth.

Noble Marine Vaikobi UKLA Qualifier 6 at Weymouth - photo © Georgie Altham / www.facebook.com/galthamphotography

Heading into day two the points on the leader board were very close, with Micky on 5, Sam on 6 and Lorenzo on 7 points. The forecast was intriguing to say the least with every model predicting different scenarios.

Racing inside the harbour again, race 4 got under way as a cloudy 8-12 knot north easterly. Whaley linked together shifts on the left side to lead, followed by Fin Dickinson and Lorenzo. In his new boat, Fin had an unbelievable reach and pulled up, rolled Sam and then sailed away from the chasing boats to lead on the downwind. One of those "What just happened there?!" moments.

The wind was substantially lighter on the run now and Lorenzo managed to pick up a yellow flag from his favourite local, the Jury boat. At the gate that left Fin still in the lead, Sam second and Micky Beckett pulling into third. The next beat was pretty unstable but positions remained unchanged until the final run, when Micky split right on the downwind and lost out to Sebastian Kempe, who sailed a nice run to move into third.

Sam Whaley, 1st - Noble Marine Vaikobi UKLA Qualifier 6 at Weymouth - photo © Georgie Altham / www.facebook.com/galthamphotography

This meant that on countback Sam won overall, with Micky second and Lorenzo third. First U21 was Fin Dickinson in fourth. Big thanks to everyone at the UKLA and WPNSA for making the event possible and see you soon at the Inlands!

And as usual we must support our sponsors as they support us. A special mention for the principle sponsors of this weekend: Noble Marine and Vaikobi.

ILCA 7 Results:

Noble Marine Vaikobi UKLA Qualifier 6 at Weymouth - photo © Georgie Altham / www.facebook.com/galthamphotography