Noble Marine 2000 Class Inland Championship 2019 at Weir Wood Sailing Club

The final event in the 20th Anniversary year took place over the weekend of the 19/20th October at Weir Wood SC near Crawley. The 2019 Inland Championships sponsored by Noble Marine had 30 entries. With a mixed forecast, the inland venue was a very much a competitive affair with typical shifty inland wind conditions.

During the event there was a pre-racing coaching session, delivered by top sailors Simon Horsfield, Katie Burridge and Rob Burridge. Many people attended and it provided them with confidence in sailing their first inland championships.

2000 class Inlands at Weir Wood - photo © Sarah Seddon

The first day saw a SW breeze build to a sub 15kts. Across the lake there were patches of gusts of wind which made for snakes and ladders racing. On every leg race positions were changing and it was often down to the last upwind leg to the finish to secure a place. 3 races were sailed on day one and the top ten places were separated by 6 points with many boats on equal number of points.

Many attended the evening social event started off by class chairman Kev O'Brien. Wh provided a post-race de-brief session utilising video footage taken from the day's racing. The club provided a fantastic evening meal catered by Wych's Kitchen.

2000 class Inlands at Weir Wood - photo © Sarah Seddon

Day 2 greeted sailors with a magical mist across the water and the RO postponed the racing for an hour. The excellent race committee set the course with a forecast of a cold NE direction predicted. The mist started to clear and the breeze started to fill in across the water. With a slight tweak to the leeward gate racing got under way.

Racing was very close throughout the 3 races, with leeward gate congestion being experienced right across the fleet. Across the race track mini battles where taking place and positions could be lost by a dropped mainsheet or incorrect prediction of shift in the wind. The top marks were situated close to the dam which provided a nervous approach to the mark. Hoping the wind wouldn't shift many people fell afoul of the shifty breeze.

2000 class Inlands at Weir Wood - photo © Sarah Seddon

The Inland Championships resulted in Rob Burridge and Sarah Burridge taking the title of Inland Champions with newcomer to the fleet Paul Cullen sailing with Georgina Booth in 2nd place. Simon Horsfield and Katie Burridge 2018 National champions taking 3rd place.

This final event encapsulated very much what the class stands for, Fast Family Fun. Many boats had young children sailing with their parents, testament to the sport of sailing that it's a great leveller to allow families to partake in competitive sport together.

2000 class Inlands at Weir Wood - photo © Kev O'Brien

A huge thank you to Weir Wood SC for providing a first-class event with excellent on the water race management. Special thanks to the caterers for providing breakfasts, lunches and post racing tea & cake over the weekend.

The class is now looking forward to the 21st 'Coming of Age' year with a new millennium series, a mix of one day and weekend events planned. The 2020 UK Nationals are taking place at Brixham Yacht Club on the 15 - 21 Aug 2020. We would love to beat last year's number of 53 boat entries, so if you fancy racing in this super friendly class then why not try your hand in sailing 'Probably the best entry level family performance asymmetric dinghy in the world!'.

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