Local lads win

A Hayling Island pairing won the Sekonda RS Feva National Championships on their home waters

The RS Feva National Championships took place in Hayling Island and what a great event! A great slot on Meridian TV news about the event can be seen at http://www.itvlocal.com/meridian/?player=MER_HomePage_15 160 sailors (approx 45% female/55% male) and a race official team from HISC that managed to pull the irons out of the fire to complete a decent series. The weather was diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia. The forecast changed every twelve hours running up to the event whereupon it changed every six hours. Saturday was sunny but was lost to over enthusiastic windspeed so the usual displacement activity took place with hanging out/ being cool/ rock hopping/ AGM/ coffee – yes honestly, Olympic games with medals presented by real live Olympians, etc. So, all even after day one then.

Day two dawned with cloud and zephyrs which turned into a force two to three from the South. Great officiating got two races in flights under the belt before the breeze took its own coffee break. At this point it was incredibly tight with Tim Gratton and Chris Taylor, Derek and Eleanor Ness, and Jess Lavery and Philippa Lawson all joint top of the leaderboard. After an hour or so of doing floating cork impressions the wind came oout to play again with sufficient vitality to allow one more round of flights to be sailed and complete the qualifying series.

Gratton and Taylor were stamping their authority on proceedings by winning with unfeasibly comfortable margins. Then again they have the form rocket ship of the year so far. Last years champions Barry and Jack Parkin decided to do it the other way round this year with the irrepressible but diminutive Jack helming and the Olympian dad crewing. In the light stuff this worked a treat and they were in the Gold fleet level on points with Gratton. It was all so close that there were only seven points separating first from 12th. One of the pre-regatta favourites Bolingbroke and Heathcote were languishing in an unfamiliar 11th (desperate to either stop growing or get a move on into 29ering).

So with just the Gold and Silver fleet final series to go the main prizes were set for youths- Gratton and Taylor; Family – Parkin and Dad, Junior – Jones-Warner and Poyner and Ladies – Lavery and Lawson. So the final day.

Final Day: 30knots, the possibility of racing on a course set in the car park with plenty of depth available, rain that makes the SouthEast Monsoon look like drizzle, and a clutch deciding to leave early to beat the traffic. Couldn’t blame them but then the other Hayling personality appeared. By 1pm it looked like champagne sailing in sun and a force five. Bev Moss and race team heroically set a course over the Winner Bank some 4 minutes at Feva warp speed from the launching point and sailed the Gold and Silver Fleets separately for safety reasons. The result was awesome sailing and viewing. The Gold Fleet managed three races and the Silver fleet two.

Winter training paid off big time with the National Squad to the fore and making this breezy stuff look simple. National Squad coach Jonathan Lewis, who assisted everybody with advice and seminars (he earned his keep) was justifiably pleased as punch. Consistency (and brilliance) paid off as Tim Gratton and Chris Taylor romped home to win overall with a fifth, a first and a second. Alex Mothersele and Hamish Ellis kept them honest with a fourth, a sixth and a first to come second overall. Biggest climbers of the day were James Bolingbroke and matt Heathcote who came from 11th the previous day to get third with room to spare.

The incredible Jack Parkin coaxed his weary dad around to clinch the Family Champions title in fourth while Peter Curtis and son James were snapping at their heels one point further back. Third family were Olympian Debbie Darling with daughter Charlie in ninth overall.

The Sekonda National Junior Champion title went to Hugo Jones-Warner and James Poyner team who build a huge lead in their category and came sixth overall. Their potential is awesome and they are a new combination too. Sammy Bonella and Alexis Streeter got the coveted second Junior prize whilst coming 18th overall. Will Lowes and Hugo Tucker are another new combo who will improve steadily getting the third place prize coming 22nd overall.

The Ladies national title was hoovered up by Eilidh McIntyre and Cassia Roberts who in seventh overall are some of the most improved sailors this year. Hannah Maunder and Becky Partington showed their true potential by getting second whilst also being tenth overall and third Ladies team was Jess Lavery and Philippa Lawson just behind in 11th overall.

Oakham School are showing fantastic form with two all girl teams coming in 15th and 16th in the gold fleet (Cathy Lear and Francine Counsell and Alice Kent and Lucy Childs) but also having the winners of the Silver Fleet Jamie Rankin and Oli Holland). In a hard fought final two races, the second slot in the silver fleet went to Abigail and Rosie Hickman who just overcame the points differential with third placed Sophie Andrews and Victoria Payne. The big movers on the final day in the silver fleet were Joseph Wellerd and Martyn Wogan who won both races and climbed to fourth.

There were too many other notable performances to mention them all but perhaps these two stand out. Tim and James Norris had an outstanding last day with a 16th, a second and an eighth to climb into eighth overall. Alex and Steffi Orton showed great potential by being the top transition squad performers coming in 14th overall.

Fantastic events like this aren’t possible without great host club activity (thanks Murray, Debbie and various teams) generous sponsors (Sekonda for the second year) and their local Hayling Island dealer (RJ Morris) who sponsored the entries for two boats from the Havant Youths STS – well done Rob Dunford and Ethan Levy and Gemma Heathcote and Rosie Staples. Magic Marine generously supplied to prizes.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Crew	Club	Qualifying	R1	R2	R3	Tot	Net
1st	Tim Gratton	Chris Taylor	HISC	2	5	1	2	10	10
2nd	Alex Mothersele	Hamish Ellis	Emsworth SC	4	4	6	1	15	15
3rd	James Bolingbroke	Matt Heathcote	Dabchicks SC	8	1	5	7	21	21
4th	Jack Parkin	Barry Parkin	HISC	2	10	11	4	27	27
5th	Peter Curtis	James Curtis	Island Barn	7	2	16	3	28	28
6th	Hugo Jones-Warner	James Poyner	HISC	6	15	9	6	36	36
7th	Eilidh McIntyre	Cassia Roberts	HISC	7	3	10	18	38	38
8th	Tim Norris	James Norris		17	16	2	8	43	43
9th	Debbie Darling	Charlie Darling	HISC	6	21	18	5	50	50
10th	Hannah Maunder	Rebecca Partington	HISC	19	22	3	9	53	53
11th	Jessica Lavery	Philippa Lawson	Emsworth SC	4	13	25	15	57	57
12th	Samuel Rowell	James Hudson	Felixstowe Ferry SC	18	6	13	24	61	61
13th	Steve McLean	Syd McLean	HISC	36	11	7	13	67	67
14th	Alexandra Orton	Stephanie Orton	CYC	15	17	17	20	69	69
15th	Cathy Lear	Francine Counsell	Oakham	16	19	8	27	70	70
16th	Alice Kent	Lucy Childs	Oakham	6	28	20	17	71	71
17th	Dan Fellows	Bella Fellows	Yealm YC	21	23	15	14	73	73
18th	Sammy Bonella	Alexis Streeter	HISC	24	36	4	11	75	75
19th	Peter McCoy	Ben Hodges	ESSC	27	8	29	12	76	76
20th	Libby Watkins	Abbie Heathcote	WMYC	32	9	19	16	76	76
21st	Harry Bowerman	Charlie Williams	HISC	17	26	23	10	76	76
22nd	Will Lowes	Hugo Tucker	Whitstable YC	17	18	22	21	78	78
23rd	Amber Maria Brown	Jamie Brown	Burghfield	21	12	14	32	79	79
24th	Jay Whitehead	Alice Moore		17	24	12	31	84	84
25th	Jenni Davies	Ben Davies	Aldeburgh	20	7	40.0 DNC	22	89	89
26th	Craig Dibb	Charlie Cox	Warsash SC	31	20	21	19	91	91
27th	Niall Houston	Roger Houston	HISC	20	14	26	40.0 DNC	100	100
28th	Gemma Bird	Colin Bird	HISC	20	34	24	28	106	106
29th	Jack Hawkins	Duncan Ryan	Restronguet SC	31	25	28	23	107	107
30th	Alex Curtis	Andrew Clarke	QMSC	20	32	30	26	108	108

More photos on the following pages.