RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show YachtsandYachting.com Concours d'Elegance
by Mark Jardine 2 Mar 2014 04:48 AEDT
1 March 2014
The YachtsandYachting.com Concours d'Elegance at the RYA Suzuki Dinghy Show has been awarded to Mike Lennon's new Exocet International Moth sail no. 4147.
Stacey Clark, Chairman of the RYA, and YachtsandYachting.com Editor Mark Jardine spent an enjoyable morning looking around all the boats at the show and were hugely impressed with the range and standard of dinghies on display.
Mike has spent his time since Christmas rigging and tuning his new Exocet and grabbing time on the water when he can between the storms that have been battering his home sailing venue at Hayling Island. Mike was genuinely surprised when the trophy was awarded and couldn't stop grinning for a while. "It's really nice to won this prize. As a lad I used to see the Scorpions winning the Concours d'Elegance, so I think it's a really big deal for the Moth class to win it now."
The other boats on the shortlist of four included Alex Hayman's Scorpion 2021 'Halcyon Daze' on the Harken stand with her stunning Gosling varnished decks, the Bieker 5 International 14, sail number 1517 and Rob Bell's Morrison 2 International Canoe 'Wild Venture'.
The general standard of dinghies on display has taken another step up and the care and attention that each class association has put into their boats and stands is evident to see.
There were also a few other boats that would have been in contention had they actually been out sailing before the show. These included the stunning new full-foiling A Class Catamaran NED007, where we were given an explosive demonstration of the foils bend characteristics, and the IDOL International OK Dinghy which, while not having a rig, showed off some stunning carbon and wood craftsmanship.
The Internatonal Moth class have won three months worth of skyscraper banner advertising worth £600 courtesy of title sponsor YachtsandYachting.com and the Concours d'Elegance Trophy for the year.