Up and comers

80 RS Fevas contested their UK National Championship at Hayling Island Sailing Club

The sun shone, shone some more and then shone again. The wind was light, variable, then light again with a mild sea-breeze to finish at the RS Feva UK National Championship. The level of competition was awesome. The regular Feva sailors were supplemented by a lot of parents being crewed by their children (three in the top five and nothing less than national champions in boats such as Fireballs and ff15’s between them!) and by what seemed like the entire Oppie heavy artillery (talent that is, not weight). A total of 85 Fevas.

Five boats made up the first ever Regatta fleet and they had wicked amounts of fun with David and William Acres winning with Dan Fenn and Syd Williams second . The other 80 presented a serious challenge to the Race Officer who did a great job of imposing order with the black flag.

Ultimately a major championship will never be won without a lot of talent, great execution and a modest dose of luck. Well the new champion had all these in spades. Aaron Smith is well known in Oppie circles and will in due course be known by many more. He warmed up his Feva skills by coming second in the Papercourt Open earlier this season. This familiarity with the class was possibly a key factor compared to the rest of the heavy brigade! After the first two days he was in a position to challenge for the podium. Race five saw Aaron crewed by Jeremy Williamson winning his first race. Day three was when they turned the afterburners on reeling off three more bullets on the spin. Given the conditions and the crowded starts that was miracle enough even ignoring the competition.

Pre-event favourite and commanding leader of the fleet, James Peters crewed by Ben Gratton had their rudder knocked off in the pre-start melee for race 5 and were subsequently awarded average points. Having miraculously made the start line for race six they were perhaps overeager and got a black flag. As a result James’ next two starts weren’t the usual top drawer leading to them having to stage remarkable comebacks. It wasn’t enough however to unseat Aaron from a well deserved one point victory.

Next came the charge of the families with parents helming for their younger and betters. third overall was Rob Cage crewed by Georgina. Rob warmed up for the event by becoming the first adult winner of Feva Open in Emsworth. They showed fantastic consistency in being able to discard a tenth place. fourth overall was Barry Parkin crewed by Jack and they were hardly less impressive being able to discard a 14th place. Derek Ness crewed by Eleanor were the third of the veteran’s triumvirate with an 11th place discarded.

Sixth and seventh had to be split on count back. Phil Sparks with Sam Batten had led after day two and just got the nod over James and David Grant.

These four sailors are all part of the successful Oppie programme and clearly have star potential. Is 2012 to early? Probably, but don’t write any of these guys off. Milly Stevens and Hermione Stanley came a fantastic eighth and were first all girl team having scored an impressive four top seven results.

The top ten were rounded off by Nathan and Anna Ackroyd (despite being family, not of the same veteran status as the other family teams but rather a great brother and sister team) in ninth and Nick Robson crewed by Alex Parfitt in a career best of tenth.

Big lessons were no doubt being learned about big fleet starts and championship strategies by Laura Sanders and Matt Purdon who set a record with three black flags.

Ultimately the Feva’s lived up to their reputation as a fun class and it was the Olympic ideal of taking part that counted. This was epitomized by Laurie Pike with Stephen Henderson who engaged with Jazzy Tucker and Tom Dear for the boat that had the most fun during the regatta. There was also the famous JD award for the parent most resoundingly beaten by their offspring, this year that went to a member from the same club – James Lavery beaten by daughter Jess with Phillipa Lawson who came 24th.

Finally there were a fair few new Feva sailors out there who are going to be regular on the circuit. Welcome to all of you and we look forward to seeing you all at forthcoming events and the selectors for the winter training squads. Good luck and above all else have a barrel load of laughs and fun!

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	Tot
1	Aaron Smith	Jeremy Williamson	12	2	8	-17	-19	1	1	1	1	25
2	James Peters	Ben Gratton	1	1	4	3	(RDGa)	(BFD)	7	6	4	26
3	Rob Cage	Georgina Cage	2	7	6	-10	1	3	(BFD)	8	2	29
4	Barry Parkin	Jack Parkin	6	4	2	1	9	(BFD)	2	12	-14	35
5	Derek Ness	Eleanor Ness	3	8	7	-18	3	8	5	2	-11	36
6	Phil Sparks	Sam Batten	5	3	1	7	2	-16	-16	14	6	37
7	James Grant	David Grant	8	5	3	-15	-32	2	11	4	5	37
8	Milly Stevens	Hermione Stanley	14	-18	11	13	-33	4	4	5	7	57
9	Nathan Ackroyd	Anna Ackroyd	-27	9	13	6	-31	5	3	21	3	60
10	Nicholas Robson	Alex Parfitt	-25	10	14	-34	4	6	6	20	15	75
11	Austen Scully	Bethany Robson	-21	-21	20	20	5	7	10	7	12	81
12	Ross Williams	Ben Harden	-42	15	5	2	6	-34	14	26	21	89
13	Tom Britz	Liam Garrison	-56	-35	10	8	7	11	8	16	29	89
14	Bill Tucker	Hugo Tucker	9	13	12	16	8	10	22	-41	-24	89
15	Rupert Jones-Warner	Hugo Jones-Warner	7	-39	33	4	(BFD)	12	9	13	17	94
16	Becky Diamond	Fiona Hampshire	10	14	15	9	(BFD)	(BFD)	31	19	9	106
17	Harry Derbyshire	James Poyner	15	6	23	-35	(BFD)	29	12	3	22	109
18	Craig Davis	Ethan Davies	18	19	18	12	18	(BFD)	-45	17	8	109
19	Matthew Rainback	Jonathan House	17	17	17	5	12	(BFD)	13	-62	52	132
20	Paul Minors	Mark Minors	19	20	9	25	(BFD)	22	18	-29	27	139
21	Charlie Esse	Henry Loyed Williams	23	12	16	19	-36	24	36	(BFD)	10	139
22	James Hamer	Brett Hill	-33	16	25	24	(BFD)	18	23	25	23	154
23	Ed Lowes	Will Lowes	34	11	31	14	(BFD)	15	(BFD)	36	19	159
24	Philippa Lawson	Jess Lavery	-47	-31	21	31	20	31	28	10	25	166
25	Craig Dibb	Gilly Sutcliffe	13	24	32	36	15	(DNC)	(BFD)	27	20	166
26	Tim Gratton	Chris Taylor	20	22	27	-49	10	48	27	24	-51	177
27	Thomas Durham	Barnaby Thorsby	11	25	22	-43	41	36	(DNC)	15	34	183
28	Natalya Eyre	Francesca Eyre	-44	29	19	30	(BFD)	21	25	31	28	183
29	Izzy Allerston	Charlotte Alderton	-45	23	36	-40	22	20	19	37	31	188
30	Micheal Ellis	Elizabeth Ellis	-48	-51	47	21	21	13	20	38	32	192
31	Tracey Jacobs	Alice Masterman	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	29	16	25	17	9	18	197
32	Roddy Lacey	James Bibby	-49	27	-48	44	35	14	47	18	13	198
33	Alex Poyner	Holly Tucker	50	32	40	27	(BFD)	(BFD)	15	30	16	209
34	Matthew Davanzo	Matthew Barker	40	-56	-46	39	14	35	30	22	35	214
35	David Thomas	Jamie Diamond	22	36	26	41	25	32	-44	40	-68	221
36	Katie Polglase	Eilidh McIntyre	41	42	-58	23	(BFD)	23	26	35	33	222
37	James Bolingbroke	Matt Heathcote	38	33	30	42	38	-51	-48	23	26	229
38	Matt Reid	Joshua Irons	-68	-58	50	28	17	27	24	42	42	230
39	Toby Holloway	Oli Stevens	-52	44	42	50	11	26	21	39	-65	233
40	James Lavery	Tom Lavery	29	34	37	22	23	46	(BFD)	-49	43	233
41	Adrian Clay	Josh Sparks	16	43	38	32	43	28	-52	45	-48	244
42	Charlie Williams	Will Nicholls	-51	-60	43	46	30	39	41	11	38	248
43	Matthew Thomas	Duncan Hampshire	43	52	-71	-59	24	17	34	46	41	256
44	Ella Brown	Molly Brown	35	46	49	-53	27	(BFD)	29	32	40	257
45	Tom Collie	Matthew Collie	30	48	53	-55	28	(BFD)	38	43	36	275
46	Rodney Steel	Jeremy Steel	39	55	54	45	34	19	32	-58	-57	277
47	Phil McCoy	Max Yoward	26	28	28	26	(BFD)	9	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	282
48	Kirsty Hill	Hugh Gower	37	40	29	47	(BFD)	43	-56	50	37	282
49	James Aylward	Otto Collier	54	-57	56	11	(BFD)	41	51	34	39	285
50	Alex Kirk	Joel Kirk	-61	37	39	-54	29	42	49	48	44	288
51	Philip Mileham	Douglas & Fraye Rosie	59	49	45	48	13	(BFD)	35	44	(BFD)	292
52	Jon Holmes	Hamish Ellis	53	30	51	-58	(DNC)	33	39	33	58	296
53	Tom Eastell	Alex Stone	24	41	41	33	42	37	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	300
54	Laura Sanders	Matthew Purdon	57	26	35	37	(BFD)	30	33	(BFD)	BFD	300
55	Tom Adams	Sarah Adams	32	54	34	52	37	47	55	-64	-59	310
56	Holly Watson	Brittney Mackinlay	31	53	55	-60	(BFD)	56	43	28	47	312
57	Alex Orton	Stephanie Orton	-58	50	-52	51	47	40	37	51	46	322
58	Liz Foreman	Amy Foreman	28	47	-64	(DNC)	40	55	57	55	45	326
59	Clare Michelmore	Lucy Preston	-62	59	59	56	26	-62	42	54	50	346
60	G Page	A Page	36	-67	-65	62	44	49	50	52	63	355
61	Stewart Hawthorn	Alexandra Hawthorn	60	38	24	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	BFD	47	30	364
62	Lara Jane Conway Yates	Claire Trant	-69	62	67	(DNC)	39	44	40	53	60	365
63	Pippa White	Jeremy White	66	-69	66	38	(BFD)	45	46	57	55	372
64	Hannah Maunder	Juliet Price	55	45	61	(DNC)	(DNC)	52	65	59	49	385
65	Guy Hickman	Billy/Rosie Hickman	46	63	44	61	(BFD)	38	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	417
66	Nathasha Phillips	Edward Phillips	73	68	(DNF)	57	48	(BFD)	54	56	62	417
67	Rory Galloway	George Star	65	65	(DNF)	(DNC)	45	58	60	63	67	422
68	Lucy Jarvies	Megan Davies	76	73	62	(DNC)	(DNC)	53	53	61	54	431
69	Matthew Osborne	Jonathan Welch	64	70	68	(DNC)	(DNC)	60	61	60	64	446
70	Henry Message	Dan Lytton	77	66	72	(DNC)	(BFD)	57	62	65	56	454
71	Samantha Denyer	Stuart Denyer	72	76	70	(DNC)	(DNC)	63	58	68	53	459
72	Peter McCoy	Jack Spencer	67	64	69	(DNC)	46	59	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	470
73	Callum Rocks	Kieran Rocks	75	78	73	(DNC)	(DNC)	61	59	67	66	478
74	Julian Hase	Harriet Hase	70	72	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	54	64	69	69	480
75	Jordan Watson	Edward Andrew	74	(DNC)	57	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	63	66	61	486
76	Tom Briggs	A Briggs	71	71	63	(DNC)	(BFD)	50	DNC	DNC	DNC	503
77	Chris Moore	Ted Moore or Dan Moore	63	61	60	(DNC)	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	515
78	Sam Sykes		(DNF)	74	(DNF)	DNC	DNC	64	BFD	71	71	529
79	Jazzy Tucker	Tom Dear	(DNF)	77	(DNF)	DNC	DNC	65	DNC	70	70	531
80	Laurie Pike	Stephen Henderson	78	75	(DNC)	(DNF)	DNF	DNF	DNC	DNC	DNC	567