Please select your home edition
Edition
Noble Marine 2022 YY - LEADERBOARD

Noble Marine Lightning 368 Inland Championship 2024 at Oxford Sailing Club

by Simon Hopkins 19 Aug 16:23 BST 17 August 2024
Noble Marine Lightning 368 Inlands at Oxford © Margaret Humphries

On Saturday 17th August a fantastic turnout of 21 boats arrived at Oxford Sailing Club for the Inland Championship to be greeted by a glass like lake surface without a breath of wind. It was decided to postpone for at least 30 minutes to allow the rumoured building wind to arrive, so everyone got another sup of tea.

Eventually after about 45 minutes the fleet launched in hope as small patches of breeze appeared on the lake. It was another 30 minutes of following the start boat around the lake as the wind flipped and flopped before a decision was made to start a race and go with whatever wind was there at the time.

As the gun went it was impossible to cross the line on Starboard and first on to port was Andrew Yuille closely followed by Simon Hopkins in what became a fetch to the first mark. After this the race became very confusing and places changed depending on where you were at the time. Jeremy Cooper and Caroline Hollier came though Simon briefly before John Claridge sailed through the pack and disappeared off to challenge Andrew for the lead. On the penultimate leg Simon was back to third when taking the middle found the edges were the places to be and saw Jeremy, Ian Ranson come in from the right and Huw Hopkins, Caroline and Bryan Westley come in from the left. Up front John managed to get passed Andrew for the win and Huw led Jeremy and Caroline home in the chasing pack. The fleet then retired to the club house for a much needed break.

After Lunch there was wind on the water, but don't be fooled this was coming from every direction and it was going to prove to be a very challenging afternoon!

Race two got away and the wind was again flicking left and right as the gun went. Most boats got onto port quickly, but it was the ones on the far right that got the big shift and stormed into the mark with Caroline rounding first followed by Simon, Paul Beven, Martin Evans and Clayton Parker. On the run Paul attempted a spectacular wipe out, but just managed to save the capsize but dropped back several places and Clayton nearly got by Simon before the gybe mark. Meanwhile Caroline extended her lead over Simon who was coming under pressure from Martin and Margaret Humphries. On the next 'beat' both these two got through Simon with Margaret picking the shifts perfectly to arrive on Caroline's transom to challenge for the win. This she did on the line relegating Caroline to second. Then in the battle for third Simon following Martin into the line decided to tack onto port and go for the committee boat end and just beat him to the line.

Race three got away under the best wind of the day and on a very biased line Jeremy started on port and got clean away as the rest of the fleet struggled to cross the line on starboard or find room to tack onto port. Simon was second best away and these two rounded the first mark well clear of the chasing pack of John Claridge, Andrew, Martin and Caroline. These positions stayed the same until lap three when Jeremy caught the back on the British Moth fleet at the mark 3. Forced to go wide around four boats he was in the wrong place when the wind shifted making it a port close hauled tack to the bottom mark. Simon rounded tight and was laying the mark in one tack whilst Jeremy had to tack back dropping him to second. Then to make it even more painful John C. got inside at the bottom mark relegated him to third. This left Simon slightly ahead of John with only a very starboard biased beat to the line when it was time for the Moths to intervene again. They were between Simon and the line pointing very high and Simon decided to do a short tack to windward to clear them. Unfortunately, they tacked with him and left John a route below everyone to try to make the pin end. With a last minute 'shoot' for the line he beat Simon by an inch to take his second win of the day.

As the fleet came ashore the results were so varied that no one was actually sure who had finished where! One thing was clear that with two wins John Claridge was the 2024 Inland Champion, stopping Simon getting his hat-trick and having to settle for second. Andrew Yuille with his fourth in the last race came in third overall ahead of Caroline, Jeremy and Margaret. Caroline therefore won the inaugural presentation of the trophy for first lady helm at the Inlands and Clayton Parker finishing 11th retained the Junior title.

The Noble Marine Travellers Trophy now moves onto the National Championships to be held at Chase SC over the weekend of 14-15th September. With 24 boats at the Northerns and 21 at the Inlands let hope for a record turnout in 2024!

Overall Results:

PosSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3Pts
1st448John ClaridgeR. Lymington YC1‑1112
2nd428Simon HopkinsUp River YC‑6325
3rd446Andrew YuilleCookham Reach SC2‑1546
4th438Caroline HollierWOSC‑5257
5th410Jeremy CooperShotwick SC4‑737
6th440Margaret HumphriesOxford SC71‑128
7th150Martin EvansCookham Reach SC‑154610
8th1Huw HopkinsChase SC3‑101013
9th441Ian RansonBolton SC8‑13715
10th329David HumphriesOxford SC106‑1416
11th257Clayton ParkerWinsford Flash SC125‑1717
12th325Paul BevenUp River YC148‑1822
13th433John ButlerNotts County SC‑2114923
14th417Jason GallagherDenholme SC‑1816824
15th416Duncan CheshireWinsford Flash SC13‑201124
16th334Allison HopkinsChase SC‑1791625
17th402Stephen HodgsonDenholme SC‑20121325
18th407Bryan WestleyChase SC917‑1926
19th298Georgie ParkerWinsford Flash SC11‑191526
20th437Paul TaylorBurghfield SC1618(DNF)34
21st294Spencer HopkinsChase SC19(DNF)DNS41

Related Articles

Lightning 368 National Championships at Chase
A fantastic weekend of competitive racing, excellent weather, and social fun The 2024 Lightning 368 National Championships, held at Chase Sailing Club on the 14th and 15th of September, was a fantastic weekend of competitive racing, excellent weather, and social fun. Posted on 18 Sep
Chase SC to host Lightning National Championships
Alongside D-Zero open meeting in September On the weekend of September 14th and 15th 2024, The Chase Sailing Club will become a bustling hub of competitive sailing as it hosts the Lightning National Championships and Devoti D-Zero Sailing Open. Posted on 2 Aug
Noble Marine Lightning 368 Northerns at West Kirby
A fantastic turnout of 24 boats A fantastic turnout of 24 boats arrived to contest the two-day Northern Champs held on the marine lake at West Kirby SC over the weekend of 20-21st July 2024, including 17 visitors from as far away as Kent and Essex. Posted on 1 Aug
Lightning 368 Derek Bayley Trophy at Cookham Reach
Arrive late but find your boat rigged for you?! On 14th July nine visitors from the Lightning fleet arrived at the beautiful Cookham Reach SC to join the four local boats for the annual open meeting held in conjunction with the Derek Bayley Trophy. Posted on 17 Jul
Noble Marine Lightning 368 Southern Championship
Training and Open Weekend held at Up River Yacht Club The latest event of the Noble Marine Lightning Travellers, took the fleet to Up River Yacht Club, for the Southern Championships. Posted on 28 Jun
Lightning 368 Noble Marine Sea Championship 2024
Held during the Lymington Dinghy Regatta The Lightning 368 Sea Championship was once again part of the Lymington Dinghy Regatta held over the weekend of 1st and 2nd June 2024. Posted on 25 Jun
Lymington Dinghy Regatta 2024
120 boats battle it out as the sun shines and the wind blows Once again the Lymington Dinghy Regatta hit its 120-boat entry limit before the weekend of racing. Locals and visiting sailors from as far away as Scotland enjoyed this fun event hosted jointly by the two Lymington clubs every year for the last decade. Posted on 5 Jun
Bartley Lightning 368 Open
A challenging South-Easterly breeze for the fleet Twelve visitors joined a single local boat at the Bartley SC Lightning 368 Open on May 12th. The fleet were greeted with a south-easterly but shifty wind which was to prove challenging for all. Posted on 17 May
Lightning 368s at Winsford Flash
A visiting fleet of 11 boats joined the 3 local boats A visiting fleet of 11 boats joined the 3 local boats for the opening Lightning 368 Travellers event of 2024 at Winsford Flash Sailing Club in Cheshire. Posted on 22 Apr
Lightning 368 Rum & Mince Pie Open
Season ends with Travellers Trophy awarded The traditional Rum & Mince Pie season curtain closing event of the 2023 Noble Marine Insurance Lightning 368 Travellers Trophy series took place at West Oxfordshire SC on Saturday, the 11th of November. Posted on 13 Nov 2023