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GJW Direct 2024 Dinghy

Etchells Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy Regatta at the Royal Yacht Squadron

by Jan Ford 2 Jun 2024 09:25 BST 25-27 May 2024
Etchells Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy Regatta © Etchells UK / James Tomlinson Photography

The bank holiday weekend of the 25th to 27th May saw the Cowes Etchells fleet take to the Solent for the Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy.

With this year's series already well under way and teams beginning to gel together, the weekend brought some extremely tight racing expertly provided by the Royal Yacht Squadron race team. It was great to see a mixture of expert seniors and youth boats all battling it out for top places.

After a slightly delayed start on the first day waiting for the wind to fill in, the conditions improved to around 15 knots from the South east, providing some champagne sailing on the Hill Head Plateau. The top results were shared by the more long-standing teams whilst the youth teams got up to speed, but a special mention must go to Louise Racing with two wins starting off their weekend.

Sunday saw much breezier conditions that tested all teams, especially as the tide turned in the afternoon to provide some large chop and spray. Strait Dealer, skippered by Graham Bailey, was the pick of the fleet with three top two finishes. The less-experienced youth teams also did very well in the challenging wind strength.

Results were tight at the top coming into Monday, with it all to play for in the (slightly) calmer conditions compared to the previous day. In the end a fantastic effort by the boys from Greig City Academy, accompanied by Matt Reid, saw them with three bullets in their last four races, clinching the overall win by five points. This is a huge achievement against some high-calibre teams, without even mentioning that their helm, Corneille LePrince, had never helmed in an Etchells regatta before.

Thank you to Rupert Erskine Crum and his race team for providing a fantastic long weekend of racing, and for their excellent hospitality on Saturday evening. The tight racing was just another example of the skill amongst the UK Etchells fleet and provides great excitement for the rest of the series to follow.

Overall Results:

PosBow NoSail NoBoat NameHelm / CrewR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9Pts
152  GBR 1352Jolly RogerCornielle LePrince / Felipe Garcia / Matt Reid / Max Guiguet‑Belcher63335111219
251  GBR 1459ExabyteShaun Frohlich / Ed Wright / James Hemmingway52224385124
331  GBR 1431Strait DealerGraham Bailey / Graham Sunderland / Ben Cassford / Julia Staite34412274424
495  GBR 1495Louise RacingGrant Gordon / Will Bedford / Phoebe Connellan / Oli Aldridge171RET3532325
560  GBR 1460Man's Best Friend (Youth)Ted Blowers / Matt Brushwood / Rhos Hawes25661423DSQ29
639  GBR 1439RocketmanRob Goddard / Arlo Braund / Duncan Truswell71748857544
757  GBR 957Alison (Corinthian) (Youth)Harry Cowell / Santi Sesto‑Cosby / Matt Barrett / Helena Coombs495567106648
871  GBR 1271Ziggy (Corinthian) (Youth)David Bromilow / Will Martin / Megan Farrer / George Creasy10810976411RET65
994  GBR 1194Mano (Corinthian) (Youth)Sam Barnes‑Thornton / Matilda Nicholls / Catherine Sears / Szymon Matyjaszczuk12611710999869
1048  GBR 1148Ariel (Youth)Ross Bannam / Ryan Orr / Kelly Hillier / Alice Senior810989101110771
1120  GBR 1020SUMO (Corinthian) (Youth)Hamish Pimm / Camereon Yates / Will Oldroyd9118DNFDNSDNS68DNF81
127  HKG 1407Astrid (Corinthian) (Youth)Kate Robertson / Pedro Robert / Tom Lee / Edward Latham1112121011DNSDNSDNSDNS95

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