Finn Northern Area Championships 2026 at West Riding Sailing Club
by David Kitchen 15 Apr 06:06 BST
11-12 April 2026
The 2026 Northern Finn Championships were held at West Riding Sailing Club (WRSC) the weekend of the 11th/12th April. The club is very well known for its warm and friendly reception, and this year was no exception.
The weather forecast for the country for the weekend was gusty and very windy with the many yacht clubs around the country choosing to cancel events for the weekend due to the weather conditions, particularly those on the coast where wave conditions could be dangerous.
Fortunately, the WRSC organisers sailing on Winterset Reservoir chose to press on.
Despite the weather forecast 8 Finns turned up from around the country from as far afield as the South Coast and Scotland.
Some of the visitors arrived on Friday to get rigged including Patrick Keen, Richard Beswick-Calvert David Kitchen and Tim Carver. It was unfortunate that Richard Beswick-Calvert had to withdraw after rigging due to a niggling injury he had sustained earlier.
Saturday morning greeted us with sun, rain and big dark clouds, and yes-loads of breeze.
Briefing done efficiently by the Race Officer racing was expected to commence at 12 noon with 6 windward-leeward races back-to-back in 18 gusting up to 30 knots approximately with 30-40 degree wind shifts as the wind came swirling directly over the top of the dam wall. Target race time of 30 mins each so it was set to be a hard workout today. This was going to be a full-on challenge for sure.
The racing was very competitive over the short legs of the course. It only took one lap to realise that even with 20+ knots you can still get savage gusts lifting or heading you blowing you flat or dunking you in the water. Many a boat filled with water whilst going upwind and not only on the downwind legs.
The race was very exciting in the breeze with many place changes with the big shifts. Tim Carver took the first race followed by Shaun Pickersgill followed by Soeren Vonsild. Tim again took race 2 followed by Matthew Webb and David Kitchen in freshening conditions.
Sadly, Shaun Pickersgill's sail came out of the sail track in race 2 resulting in a broken gooseneck on his mast which ended his days racing. He was good to go again however on Sunday with a borrowed mast.
Race three the pattern was set and Tim took another two first places with Matthew Webb taking two seconds followed by Soeren again in race 3 and Guy Cokill in race 4.
David Kitchen was caught out on a port/starboard incident on the second beat of race 3 with Matthew Webb and retired thinking he had caused damage. The irony was that the damage was on his own boat! Fixed with Gorilla tape and out for the next race.
The racing was very dynamic with many overlaps being made or broken close to marks in screaming conditions. Just when you were about to round a mark there are the leaders Matthew and Tim beginning to bear away then Tim gets whiped out right in front of you shouting expletives at himself as his boat goes turtle and was still there when we got around for the next lap. Great stuff.
Matthew took the gun in race 5 with a long lead in the strengthening breeze followed by Soeren and David. The last race of the day went to Tim again closely followed by Soeren.
The rescue boats had been kept busy all day assisting the capsized boats many of which had masts stuck in the mud.
The banter in the clubhouse after sailing focussed on the survival conditions of the day. It must be said that righting a Finn from a turtle position should be practised, it's not easy. There is a technique to getting it right, and most Finn sailors unfortunately are found wanting in extreme conditions. Only one boat out of many capsized turtle boats on Saturday managed to successfully right themselves unaided and finish the race.
The race officer decided to mix it up a bit for Sunday with round the cans figure of eight courses starting at 10am, which proved to be wise given the very shifty and gusty conditions. Six more races sapped all our reserves.
Matthew Webb took three first places, Tim two and Soeren one for a very different complexion to the racing. Mid fleet Patrick Keen showed good form holding off both Guy and Shaun to take fifth place in race 7 just behind David.
Shaun Pickersgill had great results on Sunday with the borrowed mast taking a second, a third and three fourth places later in the day. Guy Cokill said that he had never been so fast in a Finn on the broad reach down to mark 9 chasing but unable to get mark room on David. Tim Carver said that it was a survival conditions regatta but an exciting one.
The gap between first and second overall got whittled down on the Sunday with Tim Carver first overall with 15 points, Matthew Webb a close second on 18, and Soeren Vonsild taking third on 24 points.
At the prize-giving Tim Carver warmly thanked the club, race officials and all the helpers for their hospitality, food, efficiency and hard work under very testing weather conditions.
Thank-you WRSC it was great meeting old friends and making new ones in the Finn Class.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 8 | Tim Carver | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | (DNF) | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | ‑4 | 2 | 1 | 15 |
| 2nd | 26 | Matthew Webb | ‑4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | ‑5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 18 |
| 3rd | 35 | Soeren Vonsild | 3 | ‑5 | 3 | ‑4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 24 |
| 4th | 51 | David Kitchen | ‑6 | 3 | (DNF) | 6 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 46 |
| 5th | 76 | Guy Cokill | ‑7 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | ‑6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 48 |
| 6th | 654 | Shaun Pickersgill | 2 | (DNF) | (DNS) | DNS | DNS | DNS | 7 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 53 |
| 7th | 564 | Patrick Keen | 5 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | (DNS) | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | (DNF) | DNS | 60 |
| 8th | 72 | Richard Beswick‑ Calvert | (DNS) | (DNS) | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNS | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 90 |