Pindar Radii in straight bullets

The UK 18ft Skiff National Championships were totally dominated by one team

The final day of the Formulas Spars UK 18ft Skiff National Championships in Torbay drew to a close on Monday with champagne sailing conditions. After a couple of lighter shifty days, the gradient easterly wind brought with it a steady 12-14 knots with clear skies and sunshine, and a few Atlantic rollers to make the downwind legs a little more interesting. This years UK fleet has provided some of the closest racing for years, with now a number of teams capable of not only winning races but also whole series - and this has been reflected on the European circuit this year with Brit teams currently in the top three overall positions.

Andy Richards and his team of brother Dave together with Andrew Fairley were the on-form team to beat this weekend in Pindar Radii. Having already notched up four wins and a second place, they were clearly out to retain their UK Nationals title in style. And the boys were not going to let up in the sixth race. Another great start saw them tack off early into the building breeze that was also shifting gradually to the right. The rest of the fleet followed, but not until Pindar Radii had already consolidated their lead by cutting back to cover the fleet after their early gain. Pindar Radii then shot off downwind not to be challenged for their unprecedented fifth bullet of the series and effectivelly sewing up the championship with a race to spare. So the real race was now hotting up for the runners up slot.

Fat Face had finally started to recover some of their early season form to round second at the top mark closely followed by Gill, Wet & Wild and PICA. GE Commercial, lying in second in the series, struggled up the first beat and then compounded their woes with an uncharacteristic capsize near the top mark, effectivelly putting them out of contention for this race. Their closest challenger Ed Browne and his team in Gill could not capitalise on this mistake to move up the rankings, however, with PICA overhauling them on the downwind leg. With Fat Face holding onto second at the gun, it was Jamie Mears in PICA who took the third place.

The last race was then the deciding duel between GE Commercial Finance and Gill for the runner up in the overall standings. Mason Woodworth, using all his skills as past North American Match Race Champion, managed to shepperd Gill away from the favoured end of the start line, knowing that keeping Gill down the fleet with GE within a couple of places would guarantee second overall for the GE team. This tactic nearly backfired when Gill managed to pick their way up the first beat and round second at the top mark. There was then a gap of three boats to GE which would have left them tied on points, however a great downwind saw GE pick up a place and just squeeze ahead of Gill in the overall result. During this duelling, Pindar Radii, saliing without any pressure, again showed a clean pair of heels to the fleet by winning the race completing their domination of this years event. Base 1 continued their good form from the previous day to finish third, however, it was too little too late to overtake Fat Face in the overall standings who finished in fifth in that race.

And so Pindar Radii were crowned worthy National Champions for the second year in a row. GE Commercial took the runners up spot just ahead of Gill Wet and Wild, while Fat Face will have been content to pick up a well earned fourth place in a competitive fleet after a shaky start to their series. A big thanks must go out to the Royal Torbay Yact Club team who expertly managed some tricky conditions in the first few days and then treated the fleet to some classic conditions on the last day - the UK 18ft Skiff fleet will be back!

Formula Spars provided the very welcome sponsorship support, and the SBR team were seen sporting the new launched Formula Spars skiff boom which had a few heads turning in the dinghy park.

In addition to the National Championships, the class kicked off their speed challenge sponsored by B&G - although not a big breeze event by any means, this was won by Mason Woodworth who clocked up a respectable top average speed (SOG) of 16.0knots - this side event will now be a regular feature of all UK events and we will no doubt see the teams pushing the 30 knot barrier with the right conditions - watch this space!

Results:

1-Pindar Radii - 6pts
2-GE Commercial Finance - 16pts
3-Gill Wet and Wild - 17pts
4-Fat Face - 24pts
5-Base 1 - 27 pts
6-PICA - 30 pts
7-Hurley Palmer Flatt - 39 pts
8-Grapefruit Graphics - 39pts
9-SBR Racing - 54pts