Jardine wins Nationals

A report from the J/24 Nationals this weekend in Parkstone YC

43 teams contested the J/24 UK National Championships at Parkstone Yacht Club between the 18th and 21st September over an eight race series.

The first day saw a very patchy wind in Poole Bay with big shifts and gusts dominating the racing. Everyone was strangely line shy on the first start so the race went underway cleanly. Rob Libby’s Jooler was the earlier leader but was overhauled by Alistair Clarke helming Bob Turner’s Headcase and Mark Jardine helming Jim Griffiths’ Crew Clothing before the finish. Race two saw similar conditions but this time defending champion Stuart Jardine in Stouche won with Crew Clothing just behind.

The wind was a little stronger for Friday with three races in the day. Headcase started strongly with two race wins but Crew Clothing returned in the last race of the day with a win to stay just one point off the lead going into the weekend.

Saturday saw a number of general recalls and the black flag caught out several boats. Ian Braham’s Flagship Flyer made the most of the morning race to win and J/24 Class Chairman, Phil Owen in Zaphod took his first ever nationals race victory in the afternoon race. Crew Clothing now had a one point lead over ‘Headcase’ going into the final race. A great night was had by all at the championship dinner and dance. Parkstone Yacht Club pulled out all the stops to make it a hugely successful evening.

Sunday dawned with a sea fog hanging over Poole Harbour but the wind was filling in already from the Southwest. Everything was still to play for in the championship race with a straight battle between Headcase and Crew Clothing for the title and the rest of the top places still remarkably close. The fleet was very over-eager with four attempts needed to start the final race. Headcase made better work of this start to take an early lead, but Crew Clothing hooked into a good lift and with some excellent speed climbed the fleet to lead at the windward mark with Stouche second.

Positions stayed the same on the run and the committee shortened the course after the second beat as the wind showed signs of switching off completely. Crew Clothing took the winners gun and the team of Mark Jardine, Craig Mitchell, Jim Griffiths, Mike Valentine & Cassie Richardson took the championship in the closest J/24 nationals in years. Headcase finished second overall with Stouche third.

In all there were five different race winners in the eight race series with nine different yacht clubs represented in the top ten showing the spread of J/24 sailing in the UK. Speedy Bean won the Westerly division with HiJack second and 16 year old Sam Pearson helming Legend to third.

Many thanks to the members, committee and army of helpers from the Parkstone Yacht Club who made all of the visitors feel so welcome. Barry Tiernan & Jenny Pipe organised the event flawlessly and the race officer John Lacey and his team provided a full series of eight good races in testing conditions. The turnout of 43 boats was excellent and shows how strong the class is currently both in the UK and abroad. With the 2005 World Championships being hosted in Weymouth, 2004 should prove a great year as team try to qualify for the British team.

Results

Pos	Boat Name	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	CREW CLOTHING	Mark Jardine	RSrnYC	2	2	4	2	1	2	5	1	14
2	HEADCASE	R.Turner/A.Clarke	Castle Cove SC	1	3	1	1	4	4	6	4	18
3	STOUCHE	Stuart Jardine	Royal Lymington YC	7	1	2	5	3	44d	9	2	29
4	HITCH-HIKER	David Ellis	Parkstone YC	8	8	13	10	2	44d	7	7	55
5	RELOADED	Duncan Peace	Royal Western YC	14	4	6	6	6	8	13	44d	57
6	JUGGS	Gavin Watson	Royal Cornwall YC	20	12	7	3	10	18	3	13	66
7	FUZZY DUCK	Ron Lee	W.H.S.C.	15=	9	12	16	9	9	44d	3	73.5
8	FLAGSHIP FLYER	Ian Braham	PYC & Sussex YC	4	15	14	13	18	1	23	11	76
9	RIOT	M. Wright	RYYC	6	5	8	18	16	15	14	44d	82
10	CHAOTIC	Nick Phillips	Parkstone YC	10	6	11	41	5	10	2	44d	85
11	SPEEDY BEAN	Jon Dowty/Matt Palme	Parkstone YC	18	26	20	9	20	12	10	9	98
12	JELLIED EELES	Matt Eeles	Parkstone YC	26	22	28	8	12	6	11	17	102
13	FRUITCAKES	Rory Barnes	Parkstone YC	13	10	44d	12	15	11	21	20	102
14	ROGER RABBIT	Nick Hirst	Royal Cornwall YC	9	18	3	26	7	23	19	44d	105
15	JAM	Steve Pirnie	Parkstone YC	23	21	25	17	19	3	15	10	108
16	ST JAMES	P.K. Woolf	West Hoe SC	22	7	44n	19	13	5	4	44d	114
17	BOOMERANG	Jim Anderson	Island SC	21	13	31	4	30	13	31	5	117
18	JEEVES	Neil Trathen	Saltash SC	17	17	15	32	21	22	12	14	118
19	JUMANJI	Brian Downing	Parkstone YC	24	11	10	21	27	17	17	27	127
20	JACOBITE	Mike Street	Castle Cove SC	25	19	17	7	17	44d	20	24	129
21	JOOLER	Rob Libby	Looe SC	3	44o	5	11	14	14	44d	44n	135
22	ZAPHOD	Phil Owen	Parkstone YC	5	35	35	34	26	21	1	18	140
23	OWENS J	Owen Kerr	Parkstone YC	28	16	16	28=	44d	19	28	6	142
24	GOSSIP	D.Lush/D.Hepburn	Parkstone YC	11	23	18	22	44d	26	27	19	146
25	ROLLING STOCK	William Pollock	Parkstone YC	30	24	44d	14	24	7	44d	15	158
26	WHY J	Rod Harris	Parkstone YC	12	14	29	24	32	16	35	44r	162
27	HI-JACK	Nick Hornby	Parkstone YC	19	30	22	20	33	20	26	26	163
28	JAM TOO	R.Ball/A.Davies	R.W.Y.C.	27	20	9	37	11	30	30	44d	164
29	LEGEND	Sam Pearson	Parkstone YC	38	25	19	28=	34	24	18	16	165
30	JIFFI	Dan Howe	Parkstone YC	34	44d	21	23	35	25	8	23	169
31	JOSKIN 2	Tom Reed	R.D.Y.C.	15=	27	44d	36	8	28	16	44d	175
32	JUST WIND	Barnaby Peters	R.C.Y.C.	36	31	30	27	31	32	22	12	185
33	JUVENILE DELINQUENT	Steve Vyse	Sussex YC	33	28	32	15	28	31	32	30	196
34	JAC	Andy Gaunt	Weymouth SC	31	34	23	28=	29	44n	25	25	196
35	JO JO	M.Edwards/B.Law	Parkstone YC	29	33	24	40	36	29	29	21	201
36	HAIR OF THE DOG	John Montgomery	PYC & RMYC	44n	44n	33	25	25	44d	24	8	203
37	WIJIT	Andrew Hill	Parkstone YC	37	29	26	39	22	44d	33	28	214
38	TIGER	Matthew Grant	Castle Cove SC	44r	44n	27	38	23	27	44d	29	232
39	JEEPERS	R.Jarratt/D.Pipe	Parkstone YC	32	32	34	33	37	34	44d	31	233
40	CLEWLESS	Barry Tiernan	Parkstone YC	39	36	38	35	40	35	34	22	239
41	EASY TIGER	Roger Morris	Parkstone YC	35	37	36	31	39	33	44d	44d	255
42	DJ	R. Burnell	Parkstone YC	44n	44n	37	42	38	36	36	44r	277
43	XRJ	Geoff Havers	Lymington Town YC	44n	44n	44n	44n	44n	37	44n	32	289