Nacra 15 Inland Championship at the Grafham Catamaran Open
by Theo Williams, Ben Harris & Paul Wakelin 23 Oct 2018 08:00 PDT
20-21 October 2018
The 2018 Grafham Catamaran Open saw seven young gun Nacra 15 teams battle it out for their UK Nacra 15 Inland Championship Title amongst some of the UK's top, fast double handed multihulls in pleasantly surprising wind and stunning autumnal sunshine.
On Saturday, a 13:00 first start allowed sailors a leisurely wake up, leaving plenty of time to rig and head out to test the race area in more breeze than forecast, 6-12 knots of testing, shifty, puffy SW breeze.
Getting to grips with the highly competitive 21 boat starts and with close racing across all of Day 1. Theo & Jasmine Williams, recently crowned National Champions started their quest for straight bullets, storming into the lead to take 1st ahead of Abi & Alfie, with Arabella & Will taking 3rd. In fact it was Theo & Jasmine Williams who made best use of the available pressure to take three wins on Day 1, closely followed by new pairing of Abigail Clarke & Alfie Cogger, posting three 2nds. The race course generally giving more breeze around the edges with lighter patches in the middle making well timed transitions across the course vital and testing.
With much place changing and the rest of the fleet enjoying the close racing, third place was hotly contested in each race. Race 1 saw particularly tight racing between Ben Harris & AJ Luxton, Morgan Smith & Molly Desorgher and Arabella Sabberton & Will Harrison. A late reaction to a sudden gust saw a rare capsize from Morgan & Molly, allowing Arabella & Will to take 3rd place R1. The performance of the 15s giving big grins and keeping all on their toes even in the light - medium conditions.
After a quick recovery, Molly & Morgan regained their practiced composure to take 3rd place in Race 2, with Arabella & Will taking 4th just 6 seconds ahead of Ben & AJ.
Race 3 was again a tight battle for 3rd, between Morgan & Molly and Ben & AJ. The final downwind saw the two teams constantly changing position, but a smooth final gybe gave Ben & Aj a 4 second advantage for that hard earned third place.
After racing, the GWSC catering team provided very tasty Saturday evening meal options which then led to a fun, social night with all the racing multihull crews, younger and wiser all gathered together with plenty of sailing chat.
Day two started much the same as the previous day greeted by 6 to 10 knots blowing offshore, more sunshine and even more shifty conditions with the breeze gently clocking to the west with the associated differences in pressure making it tricky for all on the water.
Theo and Jasmine came out of the blocks well and managed again to bullet race 4. Special mention goes to Gavin Luxton (Dad of AJ) bringing years of experience in Hobie 16 & 18 classes, stepping in to cover helm illness to sail with Charlie Hamel. Proving that great tactical awareness and good decision-making pays dividends as having sailed together for the first time at this event, they led the Nacra 15 fleet on more than one occasion.
Race 5 saw an impressive performance by Morgan & Molly to take the win, with great downwind speed by Ben & Aj closing a large lead down to less than 30 seconds to take 2nd, both over 2 minutes ahead of Theo & Jasmine in 3rd.
Race 6 and a well-judged start gave Gavin & Charlie a lead of almost 2 minutes at the windward mark, with Morgan & Molly & Abi & Alfie following. Ben & Aj and Arabelle & Will split from the previous team to take the left-hand side on the first downwind, with both teams working well to stay in pressure, taking 2nd & 3rd respectively at the first leeward gate. However, a late kite drop by Ben & Aj saw their spinnaker to wrap around the spinnaker pole, forcing them to stop to allow them to fully drop the spinnaker. Meanwhile, Morgan & Molly showed great boat speed around the final lap to pass Gavin in the final 10 seconds, taking their second win of the day.
Morgan Smith and Molly Desorgher also made some great decisions on the day, winning the last two races which meant they jumped up the leader board into third position overall.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the event and after a full schedule of six great races, Theo and Jasmine Williams, the current UK Nacra 15 National Champions, managed to "do the double" and win the UK Inland National Champion title with a race to spare. In a very credible second, 2018 GBR World Sailing Youth World Championship representative Abigail Clarke and new crew Alfie Cogger five points behind in second. Since Corpus Christie Abigail has moved into the helm role with Alfie providing the muscle up front, a teaming that's working well. Morgan Smith and Molly Desorgher pushing hard, just one point behind them in third, its tight at the top with individual points being so valuable.
Overall Results:
1st Theo Williams & Jasmine Williams - 7pts
2nd Abigail Clarke & Alfie Cogger - 12pts
3rd Morgan Smith & Molly Desorgher - 13pts
4th Arabella Sabberton & William Harrison - 18pts
5th Benjamin Harris & AJ Luxton - 19pts
6th Alex Hamel (Gavin) & Charlie Hamel - 24pts
Thanks too to Grafham Water Sailing Club and Peter Saxton and his race team for such brilliant race management, and to all at GWSC, their staff and volunteers who made the weekend possible and so enjoyable, thanks again.
It's clear that the Nacra 15 fleet really is going from strength to strength with 12 Nacra 15s within the UK, 260 plus globally, the class is looking forward to an exciting 2019 with both a full UK and International Calendar with both new and used Nacra 15s now readily available here in the UK.
For both UK Nacra 15 and International Class information find us on Facebook or go to www.nacra15class.com