Hornet National Championship 2023 at Mumbles Yacht Club - Day 2

by Hornet class 11 Aug 2023 22:38 BST 10-13 August 2023

The sunshine dwindling and the breeze building, the fleet assembled in the dinghy park. A 2 mile run to the start line in a 20 knot south westerly gave Skudder & Hills the best opportunity, having seen the forecast, to demonstrate capsize drills to the fleet, something that a lot of the class found most useful later in the day.

With no messing around, our honourable and most efficient race officer Richard set a generous beat (later to be shortened) and again "All Clear" were off.

A split off the start saw boats go left and right. On this occasion (and indeed for the rest of the day) right was right, a port lift turned into a starboard lift and McNamara & Chatterton capitalised on this to take a commanding lead around the first mark. The Flying Scotsmen Storky & Mark Taylor followed a little later, chased by Garry & Woolner then Curtis & Poulloin trying to continue their streak of bullets.

Fortunately for the multiple class champions, they had practised their gybing skills well and (by gybing more times than in the average Oppy downwind training day) mastered the reaches and runs to beat the competition to the line taking the win. McNamara & Chatterton followed closely and Garry & Woolner took third place from Skudder & Hills rounding out the same top 4 as the day before.

Race 2

A little keen after 3 clear starts, approximately 95% of the fleet were over the line caused by Floozie hammering down the start line at a rate of knots to match the wind speed and a strict black flag followed. This forced the fleet into limp mode and the second start was all clear by a line sag comparable to an equilateral triangle. Curtis & Poulloin with 3 bullets under their belt knew best, but they weren't right as they pushed out to the left hand side of the course.

McNamara again rounded the mark comfortably in the lead, followed again by the Scotsmen, the youngsters in the borrowed 2190 to the frustration of its owners behind them. Skudder & Hills followed on their way to the magic roundabout after a minor Port/Starboard issue and Curtis & Poulloin followed in a humble sixth.

Sadly their generosity didn't last and they punched their way through the lead boats over the next 3 laps into the lead.

A close run on the final lap saw them take the lead by the leeward mark and a battle was on behind. Coombe & Beer had niggled through with McNamara & Garry chasing them down. By the rounding, McNamara pushed in front and Garry caught a lucky wave and gained mark room over Coombe taking his second third of the day.

Race 3

A clear black flag start and McNamara gave his usual masterclass in Hornet sailing (or indeed sailing full stop!); this was maintained for 3 laps until the final tight (tight tight) reach to the leeward mark caused spinnaker related complications and Coombe & Beer crept though to take the lead, sadly fishing wasn't on the schedule for the day and Curtis & Poulloin popped into second, with McNamara giving chase once the catch was hauled in.

A tussle between Dave Edge and Garry, the former giving his best performance so far in the borrowed battleship and it looked like a clear win for Coombe. Sadly it wasn't to be and the afterburner had been lit. Curtis showing nobody else deserves to be the bride, took the line from Coombe with a photo finish. The rest followed in suit with a short but incredibly fickle beat to the slipway.

The racing was overshadowed by the fantastic talent show demonstrated throughout the day and special mentions are as follows:

• Jo Powell gave a masterclass in bikini removal while in full control of a reaching Hornet in 20+knots of steady breeze.
• Trapeze swimming (a up and coming sport) was expertly demonstrated by Alex Rogers after a minor helm malfunction.
• Hornet Stalwart Dave Wood showed off his amateur magician skills by turning a Hornet into a Turtle.

On the return to the shore, the Kestrels gave the Hornets a lesson on how landing on a lee shore should be done and how closely boats can work together when sharing a championship.

Sadly the forecast tomorrow looks a little grim, but the fleet are most excited about the upcoming AGM and watching England play Wales in the rugby. The class dinner will follow and the usual antics will surely come out of the hat!

Results after day 2:

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st	That Wasp Thing	2093	Terry Curtis	Gavin Poulion	Weymouth	‑1	1	1	1	1	4
2nd	Rhythm Stick	2109	Michael Mcnamara	Harry Chatterton	GCYC	‑3	3	2	2	3	10
3rd	Exeter Solar	2160	Nigel Skudder	Keith Hills	Starcross	2	2	4	5	‑6	13
4th	Mr Wiggly	2154	Richard Garry	Sam Woolner	Starcross	4	4	3	3	‑5	14
5th	Something Else	2077	Tim Coombe	James Beer	Starcross	‑6	5	6	4	2	17
6th	Mockit Dug	2157	Alistair Mclaughlin	Mark Taylor	Port Dinorwic	7	6	5	7	‑9	25
7th	Battleship	2150	David Edge	David Downs	Weston	‑12	9	7	6	4	26
8th	Floosie	2115	Jo Powell	Richard Roberts	PDSC	5	7	8	‑9	8	28
9th	Hornet's Punk	2190	Thomas Broatch	Ancel Davison	QMSC	8	‑11	10	8	7	33
10th	Dances with Wolves	2178	Kath Broatch	Alex Rogers	PDSC	‑11	10	9	10	10	39
11th		2163	Tom Guy	Benj Guy	Netley SC	10	8	11	‑13	11	40
12th	Oink Flirt	2080	Dave Wood	Steve Cooke	Minnis Bay	9	12	13	12	(DNC)	46
13th	Tadpole	2142	Eric Styles	Catherine Westbrook	Downs SC	‑13	13	12	11	12	48
14th	Association boat	2168	John Jones	Tomos Jones	PDSC	14	14	14	(RET)	DNC	60
15th	If	2192	Eric Marchbanks	Kate Jones	PDSC	(RET)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	72
15th	Swiss Cttage Manoeuvres	2058	Roger Kelleway	Jamie Kelleway	Hayling Island	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	72
15th	Virginia Planes	2147	Emma Stevenson	Tim Bowden	Weymouth	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	72