Walsh/Barney new champions

A report from this weekend's UK Tornado Nationals at Whitstable SC

The Tornado Nationals were held last weekend with sponsorship help from Gul, TNG Watches and Northrop Sails plus excellent organisation from the hosts Whitstable Yacht Club this was the best Nationals on record.

With a strong entry list including previous double Olympians & multi national winners Dave Williams & Ian Rhodes plus previous winners Will Sunnucks & Mark Self and Grant Piggott, the Tornado fleet is also attracting national’s champions from other cat classes including Rob Garka & Rod Winrow, F18, David Lloyd & Andrew McQueen, Dart 18, and Windsurfing World Champion Jonnie Hutchcroft sailing with 15 year old Ricky Heasman.

Other likely top contenders were the sailors competing on the international circuit including Andrew Walsh & Ed Barney plus Leo Farrow & Tristan Lamb. The UK fleet was also proud to attract David and Susan Shaw Tornado sailors from New Zealand, over in the UK for a working holiday who, with a little help from Grant Piggott, borrowed a boat and put in an excellent performance in the unseasonable UK weather.

Day 1 was cold with 15-22 knots from the north and plenty of choppy waves ready to pitch pole the downwind boats pushing too hard. The fleet got away at the first attempt and it was clear from the start that this was going to be a fiercely contested championship. Walsh & Barney led from start to finish, closely followed by Garka and Winrow with Farrow & Lamb taking third. Race 2 followed and a similar pattern emerged at the front but 1992 Olympic representatives William & Rhodes started to make their experience count with an excellent third place, Farrow & Lamb held on to second with Simon Northrop, runners up at Texel this year finding the heavier conditions to their liking in 4th.

Saturday dawned and with a strong onshore breeze, and four races scheduled it was going to be a testing day. Williams & Rhodes showed they had not lost any of their form and again dominated the start, this time holding onto first place, Allen & Eeles sailing Team Gul, finally found the form that had been anticipated but a poor drop when a spinnaker halyard caught round a compass on the pole dropped them from second to 11th place. Northrop finished second, with Sunnucks & Self fresh from their success in the Swedish Archipego Race starting to find their consistent form in 3rd.

Races 4 and 5 followed and the weather continued to detoriate with steady rain also adding to the cold northerly wind reminding sailors that winter has arrived, those Tornado sailors heading off to Aruba in November however just rubbed it into their competitors that they would soon be sailing in 30 degrees and a wetsuit would not be required. Walsh got backing to winning ways, with Williams 2nd and Garka 3rd. Race 5 saw Garka take his first race win, with Sunnucks 2nd and Williams adding a third to finish the day in 2nd place only two points behind the leaders Walsh 7 barney. With the top six boats only separate day a small margin it was all to play for going into the last day.

The Class AGM discussed the imminent arrival of the new Carbon mast and the implications to the fleet with all the sailors seeing it as a positive move in the continued development of the Tornado and with a entry level price and a special shipping package coordinated by Graham Eeles we expect to see these new masts in action by the end of the year.

Day 3 with a light 6-8 knots from the west and a strong tide causing the first general recall of the regatta. Hutchcroft & Heasman dominated races 6 & 8 but seemed to have an attraction to hitting every mark in Race 7, completing at least 4 360 degree turns, (something to do with windsurfers being allowed to hit the buoys was his excuse). Walsh & Barney kept out of trouble and posted two fourth places enough to take the Championship and the top prize of two TNG Baltic Cup watches but Sunnucks & Self with a fourth and two seconds move themselves up into 2nd two points clear of Williams & Rhodes who suffered a little in the lighter conditions to finial 3rd one point ahead of Farrow & Lamb.

An excellent regatta with top prizes from Gul, Northrop Sails, White Sails and TNG clearly established the Tornado a the premier twin wire catamaran in The UK and with a steady stream of Cat sailors, particularly some new younger teams joining the fleet the class hopes to continues its growth with 40 boats at next years Nationals which are likely to be on the South Coast finally moving from their adopted home of Whitstable for the last few years.

Thanks go to Whitstable Y.C and race officer Nick Finlay who ran an excellent event with top quality racing and excellent Championship courses.

Also thanks go to the RYA who provided Rob Wilson for four days to provide coaching at the event for the whole fleet. Filming on the water each day and a video debrief at the end of each days racing was invaluable to all the sailors and greatly appreciated by them all and will be certainly repeated at next year event.

We are also trying to recover a number of Tornado Trophies that have been lost over the years so any past Tornado sailors out there with trophies collecting dust please contact Richard Allen as we are keen to continue the history and traditions that the class enjoyed in the past.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Tot	Net
1	ANDREW WALSH	ED BARNEY	1	1	-4	1	4	2	4	4	21	17
2	WILLIAM SUNNOCKS	MARK SELF	-5	5	3	5	2	4	2	2	28	23
3	DAVID WILLIAMS	IAN RHODES	-7	3	1	2	3	7	6	3	32	25
4	LEO FARROW	TRISTAN LAMB	3	2	5	4	-13	6	1	5	39	26
5	SIMON NORTHROP	MATT YOUNG	4	4	2	6	9	8	7	-10	50	40
6	ROBERT GARCKA	ROD WINROW	2	11	6	3	1	-32	14	6	75	43
7	JONNIE HUTCHCROFT	RICKY HEASMAN	-30	10	8	8	11	1	11	1	80	50
8	PETER LEWER	RICHARD PELLEY	6	8	9	9	8	10	8	-13	71	58
9	JOHN READY	ANGUS ROBERTS	8	24	7	-35	5	3	5	8	95	60
10	RICHARD ALLEN	GRAHAM EELES	9	6	11	7	6	12	10	-35	96	61
11	HUW REYNOLDS	KEITH BORDERS	11	-14	10	11	7	5	9	12	79	65
12	NICK BARNES	STUART SMITH	12	12	15	12	10	9	-17	9	96	79
13	SIMON KEARNS	BEN BURNS	13	13	12	14	-21	13	13	7	106	85
14	GRANT PIGGOTT	DAN HAWKES	10	9	13	10	16	15	16	-18	107	89
15	DAVID LLOYD	ANDREW McQUEEN	-30	15	14	15	14	14	12	15	129	99
16	CHRIS FIELD	MARK FIELD	30	-35	35	16	12	11	3	11	153	118
17	PIP PARSONS	DAN PARSONS	30	-35	16	17	15	17	18	16	164	129
18	PHILIP MARKS	DAN TAYLOR	14	7	18	21	24	27	25	-35	171	136
19	GEOFF MYLCRIST	STEVE EVANS	16	18	-28	26	27	19	22	14	170	142
20	TREVOR MILTON	STEVE DODGSON	30	-35	25	13	17	20	19	19	178	143
21	ROBERT STAHL	ANNETTE CHATTEN	18	22	-30	29	20	16	21	17	173	143
22	DAVID SHAW	SUSAN SHAW	17	16	23	23	18	24	-27	22	170	143
23	RICHARD LEDGER	ROGER FERMOR	19	21	27	-28	19	21	20	21	176	148
24	VINCENT TALFORD	STEWART SMITH	30	-35	20	18	28	22	23	20	196	161
25	NICK DEWHIRST	SIMON DENNING	-30	19	26	25	25	29	24	23	201	171
26	LEE HARRISON	PAUL HARRISON	30	-35	17	24	22	28	28	25	209	174
27	MARK HOWELL	GRAEME BEESON	-35	35	19	19	35	18	15	35	211	176
28	RICHARD LAMB	DAVID FIGGIS	-35	35	24	22	23	23	33	24	219	184
29	MICK DAVIDSON	TERRY LANGENHOFF	-35	35	21	20	26	25	26	35	223	188
30	ANDY MILLER	STEPHEN ETTLING	15	17	-35	30	29	35	29	35	225	190
31	STEPHEN BUCKLE	MARK TUCKWOOD	30	-35	29	27	30	26	33	26	236	201
32	CHRIS NEEDHAM	MARTIN STEPHENS	30	-35	22	35	35	35	35	35	262	227
33	CHRIS PYGALL	TIM HUCKELL	-35	20	35	35	35	35	35	35	265	230
34	PAUL SHEDDEN	THOMAS BRANKLEY	-35	35	35	35	35	32	33	27	267	232