Swallow National Championship 2026 at Sea View Yacht Club

Swallow National Championship at Sea View Yacht Club © NSCA

This year's Swallow National Championship was kindly hosted by Sea View Yacht Club, in rather more benign forecast conditions than the same event last year.

A slightly reduced fleet of fourteen Swallows ventured forth from Itchenor on Friday afternoon to make the journey to the Isle of Wight and compete in the traditional passage race. This was duly won by Osprey (S95) helmed by James Hartley closely followed by Buccaneer (S66) with Charles Peacock and his crew showing an early glimpse of form that they were to carry through the weekend.

Saturday saw three races in what could only be described as champagne sailing conditions. The wind settled into a pretty steady force 3 to 4, but as a Westerly produced some significant shifts as it came over and around the Island and on to the race area West of Seaview. A slight chop and a change of tide during the day made for some demanding but interesting race conditions, over straight windward / leeward courses with a spreader at windward and a leeward gate.

The first two races demonstrated the competitiveness of the fleet with a different top two; race one saw Svala (S89) take the honours with Blue Tit (S80) and Archon (S74) in third while race two was won by Marengo (S82) just squeaking past Gwahir (S93) and Archon (S74) in the last 10 metres.

The final race on Saturday proved 'interesting.' A big shift in wind direction at the start gun unfortunately meant the windward leg became rather one-sided with limited opportunities for overtaking. However, on the final run the leading boats failed to notice (or to hear the race committee's radio announcement) that the leeward gate was now a solitary mark. Having rounded to starboard a previous leeward marks the front 7 boats did the same on this lap, not having noted the SI's instruction for it to be to port. Following extensive onshore discussions these boats retired leaving the honours to land in the grateful laps of Marengo (S82), Spreadeagle (S85) and Blue Tit (S80).

Seaview provided wonderful views, hospitality and food on Saturday night for the Championship dinner. We were fortunate indeed to have the pleasure of being amongst friends, a glass in hand, looking over the Solent on a warm summer's evening.

Sunday dawned with a good wind from the North-West but a forecast for it to swing South Westerly. Convinced that the breeze would die as it backed before filling in, the PRO held a rather frustrated bunch of sailors ashore for an hour in reasonable race conditions.

When finally launched the final two races proved rather challenging with massive wind shifts, and many holes to fall into. Getting one's head round a spinnaker run to the windward mark having set off close hauled, or to see a significant lead slowly evaporate proved taxing. The first race ultimately saw Svala (S89) take first followed by Osprey (S95) and Buccaneer (S66), while the second saw Charles and crew in Buccaneer (S66) sail gently round the outside of the entire fleet to take the honours just 2 minutes inside the allocated time limit, followed by Osprey (S95) and Solitude (S67). Needless to say, the breeze then filled in robustly from the South-West giving the fleet a great run back to Itchenor.

Local PRO knowledge ultimately proved correct - but sadly too late given the time constraints on the fleet's racing times.

Overall Results:

• Winners: Marengo (S82) - Carolyn Brigg, Oliver Sloper & David Sloper
• Runners up: Buccaneer (S66) - Charles Peacock, Andy Gasser and Mike Ewart-Smith
• Third: Gwahir: (S89) - Mike Wigmore, Charles Hyatt and Keith Bliss

All the competitors thanks go to Sea View Yacht Club for hosting the event, but also to our esteemed and tireless class Chairman, James Hartley, and his team for all their organisation and efforts, other than on the race track, there is never any doubt on where we should be or when!

Swallow National Championship at Sea View Yacht Club - photo © NSCA

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Swallow nationals then enter your Gear Guide information