J24 National Championship at Weymouth SC

by Ken Roebuck on 12 Jul 2011 The UK J24 National Championships 2011 took place at Weymouth Sailing Club and were held in conjunction with the Henri Lloyd Weymouth Regatta, which took place from July 7th to July 10th.

The fun started at weigh in with Tim Brouards crew on Jam keen to get it over with and down to the local chippy. Tim weighing in at an impressive 139k, which I think put the scales out in everyone else’s favour, except for Hedgehog crew Jessica who was sent round the block to lose the last kilo even though she only weighed 60kg!

Serco, with European champion helm Nathan Batchelor, came well prepared and won the event. Their 16 year old foredeck and local laser sailor Sam Barker complementing the otherwise very experienced crew of Bob Turner, Adam Bowers and Ian Brown.

Reloaded, in second, dropped a place from last year. Gareth Robinson helming with Mark Penfold and Damien Thomson being well supported by Max and Martin Holzer both of who came over from Sweden for the event.

Souche, as ever superbly helmed by Stuart Jardine came third overall. Stuart managing to persuade his son Mark and friend James Holah to compete, along with his two old(ish) regular crew, Kenny Roebuck and Graeme Love. This was Stuart’s last competitive J24 event in the UK. 'Stouche' has been sold to an Irish team so will not return after the Europeans in Howth.

The AGM was held on the Thursday evening and we were all pleased that Rob Clark, who sails JU JU, volunteered to take on the role of Class Secretary from Stuart. We lost Friday to the weather, the RO postponing for four hrs before some had got out of bed, which made for a leisurely breakfast, then abandoning at 1500 for an early beer!

However all the fleet had a hard day’s racing on Saturday, completing four races (controversial to some) in 20/25 knots and David Cooper on Jawbreaker with his secret weapon from Australia, who thought everything awesome, also getting a bullet in race six. Jiggy With It, the only Westerly in the fleet, hosted a pontoon gathering after racing which was welcome by all for a bit of banter and beer.

Sunday brought a more manageable 8/10 knots, we had Jacobite, Mike Street, winning his first race at a nationals in race seven and then Andy Taylor on Hitchhicker winning race eight.

The Prize Giving, with generous main prizes from Hyde Sails, was held outside 'The Boat That Rocks', the restaurant adjacent to Portland Marina. The Marina did a great job of launching and recovery with their large forklift for us. We hear plans afoot at Castle Cove Sailing Club for a crane by next year. Watch this space.

Thanks go to the Yacht Clubs of Weymouth, especially chairlady of the regatta committee, Nicola Lane, doing that for the first time is no easy job. Also to PRO Derek Abbott and our own RO Adrian Patterson and his team on the Committee Boat and RIB on the J24 Course for three days of outstanding course setting and eight superb races.

Next year’s Weymouth Regatta will be the 13th-16th July and all can be assured the J24’s will be back.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	GBR 4247	Serco	Bob Turner	Castle Cove SC	1	1	1	2	1	2	-7	6	14
2	USA 4265	Reloaded	Mark Penfold	RYA	2	4	3	1	2	3	-9	5	20
3	GBR 4215	Stouche	Stuart Jardine	Royal Lymington YC	4	2	2	3	3	4	-6	3	21
4	4177	Hedgehog	Darren Stansbury	Saltash	7	3	5	4	-15	5	2	4	30
5	GBR 4270	Jolly Roger	Roger Morris	Parkstone	3	-13	6	8	6	11	4	2	40
6	GBR 4271	Jawbreaker	David Cooper	Royal Western YC	11	6	4	5	8	1	-13	8	43
7	4242	Hitchhiker	Andrew Taylor	Parkstone YC	14	11	-15	6	11	6	8	1	57
8	GBR 4232	Boomerang	Jim Anderson	Island SC	-12	8	7	10	7	8	11	11	62
9	4259	Jacobite	Mike Street	Castle Cove SC	13	12	-14	9	10	10	1	10	65
10	GBR 4254	Juju	Rob Clark	Parkstone YC	5	14	9	7	14	(DNS)	3	13	65
11	4027	Jiggy With It	Paul Williams	J24 Association	9	-16	13	16	5	7	10	7	67
12	4194	Jeepers	Alex Knight	Castle Cove SC	10	5	10	15	4	12	15	-16	71
13	GBR 4260	Jeli	Stig Mc Donald	Royal Western YC	6	9	11	11	DNF	(DNC)	5	15	73
14	4252	Jumanji	Brian Downing	Parkstone YC	8	7	12	14	9	14	-16	14	78
15	GBR 4266	Flying Colours	William Pollock	Parkstone YC	-15	ZFP	8	13	12	9	12	12	79
16	GBR 4153	Jam	Tim Brouard	Royal Southern Academy	-16	15	16	12	13	13	14	9	92

 

 

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