80th Anniversary Firefly Championship at Tenby Sailing Club - Day 2

Will Pank saves the day... in more ways than one

It was a stop-start day for the fleet in Tenby when the early breeze that the fleet launched in petered out and the fleet was sent back to shore for a couple of hours.

There was early drama in the dinghy park for Harvey and Sophia Hillary, when Harvey noticed some cracking on their mast above the gooseneck, and while he was derigging it to check it further it broke and came crashing down.

A quick message out on the competitors Whatsapp group had Will Pank springing into action with a spare, and Harvey and Sophia were back on the water and ready for the race.

Beach cricket on Day 2 of the 80th Anniversary Firefly Nationals at Tenby - photo © Mark Jardine

During the break ashore an impromptu game of cricket started on the beach, while others sorted hydration issues at the clubhouse, settling into a swift pint. With the tide coming in, the sailors on the beach had to gradually pull their boats up the sand, but thankfully after a two hour postponement a sea breeze was starting to fill in and the fleet went back out on to the water.

Getting the race away proved problematic. Gate starts are notoriously difficult in light winds, and the fleet were a touch too eager to get racing, especially those who had gathered on the western end ready for the pathfinder to cross.

Just after a failed gate start on Day 2 of the 80th Anniversary Firefly Nationals at Tenby - photo © Mark Jardine

Two attempts ended in failure, which was clearly getting on the nerves of the pathfinder boat, which was none other than Will Pank, with his crew Matilda Wilson. On the third attempt a vociferous Will ordered the fleet to go low enough so that he and the gate boat behind him could pass them on port tack and the race could get under way. Have a watch of the video at the end of this article to which has some epic drone footage of the first failed attempt.

Will Pank and Matilda Wilson on pathfinder duty for the Race 2 Gate Start on Day 2 of the 80th Anniversary Firefly Nationals at Tenby - photo © Mark Jardine

His tactic worked, and it was third time lucky. Race two of the championship, for the coveted Sussex Silver Firefly trophy, was under way.

It was Ben Whaley and Rhona Enkel who took the race win and, with their fourth place in the series opener, have moved into the overall lead. Keeping it clean was the motto for Ben and Rhona, as Ben explained:

"We wanted to avoid the fight and the bundle as much as possible, but also we wanted to be aware of the right hand side of the course, so I guess just making sure the gate boat wasn't on a massive lift when they started, and then trying to find our own space to separate from the pack. It was much harder today mentally than it was on Sunday, but it was a lot of fun both times."

Approaching the windward mark on Day 2 of the 80th Anniversary Firefly Nationals at Tenby - photo © Mark Jardine

Ben has been at the sharp end of a number of fleets, so I asked why he'd moved to the Firefly:

"116 boats in a lovely place like Tenby really! We did an event and I did a bit of sailing with the Pank family, and it felt nice."

The fleet launch on Day 2 of the 80th Anniversary Firefly Nationals at Tenby - photo © Mark Jardine

One of the Panks sailing is Jono, who is one of the Firefly class team who has put an immense amount of work into making this event happen:

"It's absolutely brilliant. We put a lot of effort into trying to get people into the class, a lot of mums and dads sailing with their children, and now those children are sailing with other kids who grew up around the class, and their mates now want to come and hang out and have a good ratio of sailing and social with easily accessible boats. We're so pleased to have put the effort in and get a fleet like this, and I think it'll just keep building."

Jono Pank and friends on Day 2 of the 80th Anniversary Firefly Nationals at Tenby - photo © Mark Jardine

On the team at Tenby Sailing Club Jono added:

"They're amazing. It's just an awesome club. We book in here every six or so years, as often as we can, as it's an amazing place to come with incredible volunteers. I'm not sure we can all fit in the clubhouse at the same time, but that just adds to the atmosphere!"

Time and conditions allowing, Races 3, 4 and the Crews' race will be held on Tuesday. The heat is set to build, which could allow the sea breeze to come in. Fingers crossed!

Racing runs from 9 to 14 August with eight races scheduled. Alongside Tideway Wealth and Gill Marine, the championship is supported by Craftinsure, whose Craftinsure Buddies scheme welcomes the newcomers who make up a quarter of the fleet, and Marlow Ropes, with class supporters Seldén, Hyde Sails and Sailboat Trailers.

Find out more at www.tenbysailingclub.org.uk/2026-firefly-nationals

Results after Day 2: (full results can be found here)