Harken D-Zero 2025 Inland Championship at Ogston Sailing Club

by David Kitchen 8 Oct 06:52 BST 4-5 October 2025

The weather forecast for the whole country for the weekend was bleak with the onset of Storm Amy set for arrival on Friday and gales of well in excess of 50mph expected.

Many yacht clubs around the country chose to cancel events for the weekend due to the weather conditions, particularly those on the coast where wave conditions would be dangerous. Doubtless that impacted entry numbers for the event but we still had 10 entries and the club were pressing ahead with the event in parallel to the Challenger trimaran regatta.

However, our upbeat Ogston D-Zero Inland Championship organiser and Class Chairman Rohan Daniels sent out the following advisory on social media:

"If anyone plans on making a last dash to the inlands, the forecast is showing that from 2pm onwards on Saturday it will be gusting around 36knots with an average of only 18-24 knots in the afternoon. The plan is for us to start racing from about 2pm to allow the strong gusts to blow through in the morning, and an early start on Sunday to get the remaining races done."

In other words 'game-on'.

Arriving at the club late Friday to see whole trees jumping and swaying in a carefully choreographed dance as if taunting our arrival was a sight to behold. By contrast the reception from the Club and its organisers was warm, friendly and very welcoming. A great evening meal and socialising with others in the clubhouse made for a good Friday evening warm-up.

Saturday morning dawned, gusty winds from the south west and rain on and off. This was going to be 'fun' for sure.

The race officer went afloat to check the conditions fairly early and it was decided to postpone racing until 1400 HRS as expected. Three races back to back were scheduled.

Boats rigged and the fleet launched. One or two decided to check their capsize technique even before racing started. Meanwhile the course was set as a figure of eight using a moveable windward mark and fixed club marks.

Race 1 saw Wil Hitchman and Rohan Daniels up front very quickly after a short first beat with Gordon Stewart and James Daniels always in the hunt. The first beat saw gusts over 25 knots and remarkable direction swings too. David Kitchen climbed up to third by the end of the second lap only to go to the wrong mark loosing two valuable places. Josh Heron sailed well being new to the class but had too many capsizes to hold onto his positions. Simon Raglione-Hall was close most of the later part of the race but unable to punch through. Race 1 saw Wil Hitchman, Rohan Daniels and Gordon Stewart take 1,2,3.

Race 2 was under starters orders very quickly. The race started with big breeze on and spray flying off the top of the waves, so requiring lots of slack mainsheet and flogging sails to prevent being blown over all the time. Two boats capsized at the start with only one of the two continuing the race. Again it was Wil Hitchman and Rohan Daniels taking the early lead followed by James Daniels and Gordon Stewart. Some massive squalls came through on the second half of the race on the tight reach. Rohan Daniels sailed most of the leg with a flogging mainsail while David Kitchen carrying a heavy rake to de-power the rig came through to second place behind Wil Hitchman, with Rohan taking third.

The Race Officer cancelled racing for the remainder of the day as rescue was still busy trying to recover a boat near the dam wall that needed assistance.

Saturday evening saw many weary bodies with stories of lessons learnt, things to fix, things to change etc. The club dinner was superb and set the evening up well for more warm hospitality.

We all know that on a Saturday night stories are told in the clubhouse but often times not really remembered that well thereafter.

So here are some of what I heard that evening but I'm not judgemental.

Lessons learnt:

• Swimming is not a fast way round the race track, so try to stay on the boat and try keeping the mast pointing skywards
• Not to be recommended; headbutting the carbon boom in the screaming gybes is OK provided you are wearing a helmet. Of course, by accident
• Going fast in very strong shifty winds inland on flat water is very different to the sea where the wind is more constant. So best is leave the kicker quite loose and let the boom go up and out on the D-Zero when you ease the mainsheet.
• Pinch the boat up into the wind to de-power the boat in the gusts rather than letting out the mainsheet at least you point high.
• Tape your chocks into the boat or have strong elastic to stop the mast chocks coming out as happened to one boat today on a long lazy capsize. (Temporarily fixed by making wooden ones in the club workshop that evening over a beer.)
• Whatever happens don't let go of the mainsheet even when you fall out of the boat
• Make sure to sit back when you bear away onto a screaming reach to prevent easily pitchpoling the D-Zero as demonstrated today
• Going upwind in over 20 knots and gusty conditions have the centreboard up a bit to improve boat handling and reduce weather helm.
• Pull the outhaul tight and rake the mast back 5-7mm extra to de-power the mainsail and soften the leech tension in very gusty and strong winds where the impact force of the gust can blow you over so quickly.
• Don't lift the centreboard too much if you have a loose kicker off wind in 30knots you can still wipe-out as the boat slides out underneath you.
• Only two boats didn't capsize today, testimony to the tough conditions.
• One boat honestly lost count of how many capsizes they had had today. When asked are they up for more tomorrow that said absolutely yes don't want to miss out on all the fun.

Then Sunday arrived for a 1030 am start, with a forecast for lighter winds around 15knots gusting 25+ but now west north-west. The race officer inspected the conditions on the water and set a course with a long beat up to the top corner of the reservoir still a figure eight but with much shorter reaches than on the Saturday.

Race 3 - Several boats capsized before the start when some severe and shifty gusts lashed the starting area causing one to turn turtle. All were righted without issue and then lined up for the start. The lead was initially taken by Rohan Daniels with Wil Hitchman and Gordon Stewart in hot pursuit. The gusts were ranked as savage by the sailors at times with up the 40 degree swings in direction no doubt influenced by the huge trees on the hills around the reservoir. Needless to say there were also some big holes where there was little to no wind for periods of up to what seemed like a minute. Wil Hitchman took the win from Rohan Daniels 2nd and Gordon Stewart in 3rd.

Race 4 started with a left hand shift at the start and a tricky tactical beat followed. At the windward mark it was Wil Hitchman again with Rohan Daniels, James Daniels on his heels and Gordon Stewart and David Kitchen being caught out with the big shifts near the top mark. Downwind got very frisky with enormous puffs seemingly coming out of nowhere over the trees at the top of the race course. Many succumbed to these blasts downhill and were found wanting on the gybes with many a boat taking a tumble. James Daniels seemed to weave his way through the ensuing carnage without difficulty. At the finish it was Wil Hitchman, Rohan Daniels and James Daniels taking 1,2,3.

Lining up for Race 5 Rohan Daniels was nowhere to be seen and unknown to us had gone in due to a niggly knee injury. Everyone else was still out and by this stage everyone had had at least one capsize so there were some very weary bodies, and the wind once again picked up into the mid twenties.

After the start the fleet tacked to port on a major shift, with Wil Hitchman out front to windward and James Daniels below to leeward. David Kitchen and Gordon Stewart were close but never quite in contention. Josh Heron had a good first beat and remained close throughout the race. On lap two James Daniels and David Kitchen had some tight racing with frequent position changes but James just kept pushing ahead. Wil Hitchman never very far away was providing loose cover as expected on the upwind legs. Simon Raglione-Hall was scored DNF in the this race, Will Hitchman taking the 1st, with James Daniels 2nd and David Kitchen 3rd. Gordon Stewart 4th with Josh Heron a very creditable 5th finishing every race in the event and managing six capsizes on the last day still smiling when he came ashore.

The prize-giving went ahead with thanks to all the organisers, the sponsors Harken, Ogston Sailing Club and of course Phil Hind (race officer) Emily Osbourne (Photos) and the army of volunteers that made it all happen.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	307	Wil Hitchman	Shropshire Sailing Club	4	1	1	1	1	4
2	224	Rohan Daniels	Ogston Sailing Club	2	3	2	2	DNS	9
3	240	James Daniels	Ogston Sailing Club	4	4	4	3	2	13
4	GBR366	David Kitchen	Dalgety Bay Sailing Club	5	2	6	4	3	14
5	358	Gordon Stewart	Nhebsc	3	5	3	5	4	15
6	178	Josh Heron	Ogston	7	6	7	6	5	24
7	108	Simon Raglione‑Hall	Stewartby	6	DNF	5	DNF	DNS	31
8	GBR 57	Martin Latimer	Largs Sc	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	40
8	GBR 344	Mick Green	Leigh And Lowton Sc	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	40