420 Winter Championships 2023 at the WPNSA

by Will Fletcher and Ethan Sparkes 15 Feb 07:48 PST 4-5 February 2023

420 Winter Championships 2023 at the WPNSA © Ruth Epstein

The Winter Championships saw a good fleet with 33 boats entered for the first of the three regatta qualifying series for places at this Summer's European and World Championships. It was good to see an influx of younger, new pairings alongside established teams - a great indication that the class is going from strength to strength.

The forecast for the weekend was for a light wind event and that was pretty much what the fleet got. However, the race officer did a great job and managed to get 7 races away over the two days.

The winds were light all Saturday, leading to some very close and interesting races. Race one and two were both light, shifty races with the wind coming over Chesil beach. Race one was won by Alice Davis and Oliver Rayner, with race two being won by the u17 girls, Sabine Potter and Merle Nieuwland.

During race three the wind almost completely died, the race officer shortened the course, leading to the entire fleet having to drift 'downwind' towards the gate - the new finish line, with the Whiskey flag deployed to finish the race. This time it was the turn of the u17 boys Harry George and Ralph Cawthorne to take the win.

Whilst there was some controversy surrounding the results of race three with a number of competitors feeling they had been scored incorrectly, the results stood. Helpfully, Ian Walker, the Chair of the Selection Committee, sent out a very informative email after the event explaining why the results would not be changed.

Whilst rigging on Sunday the wind kept building. Sadly, these strong winds only lasted until the end of race four, won by Arwen Fflur and Arlo Braund. The wind on Sunday had almost completely swapped directions since Saturday, as it was now coming from the east with the forecasts predicting for it to go further east.

By race five we were back into light wind territory of around 6 knots, similar to the winds on Saturday, and that race was won by us, Will Fletcher and Ethan Sparkes benefitting from a decision to go hard right.

Race six followed a similar pattern to race 5, except the wind shifted left leaving quite a few boats "stranded" on the right, having thought it was still the favoured side. This race saw Alice Davis and Oliver Rayner, the eventual regatta winners, collect their second bullet of the weekend.

420 Winter Championships 2023 at the WPNSA - photo © Ruth Epstein

The final race saw Sabine Potter and Merle Niewland match Alice and Oliver with a second bullet having played the shifts well on the two beats.

420 Winter Championships 2023 at the WPNSA - photo © Ruth Epstein

Overall Results:

Pos	Bow No	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Fleet	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	Pts
1st	42	57259	Alice Davis	Oliver Rayner	Open Mixed	1	‑5	2	2	2	1	2	10
2nd	45	57275	Harry George	Ralph Cawthorne	U17 Male	‑15	6	1	7	4	7	3	28
3rd	32	57411	William Fletcher	Ethan Sparks	U17 Male	4	‑14	5	12	1	9	4	35
4th	63	56342	Sabine Potter	Merle Nieuwland	U17 Female	2	1	28	(RET)	3	3	1	38
5th	41	56007	Arwen Fflur	Arlo Braund	Open Mixed	3	9	6	1	9	12	‑14	40
6th	17	55854	Joe Warwicker	Hugo Valentine	Open Male	7	(UFD)	10	3	6	8	10	44
7th	44	56091	Imogen Wade	Teddy Dunn	Open Mixed	‑18	11	14	4	7	13	6	55
8th	82	55242	Joe Jones	Hennie Burlton	U17 Mixed	5	2	9	17	8	‑18	18	59
9th	21	54481	Holly Wright	Olivia Nixon	Female	6	3	20	14	12	5	‑23	60
10th	38	55244	Henry Heathcote	Oli McGill	Open Male	9	(UFD)	17	13	18	2	5	64
11th	57	57224	Noa Moskovitch	Gabs Burlton	Female	10	10	‑26	15	19	6	8	68
12th	64	56108	William Bailey	Matthew Rayner	Open Male	16	‑19	15	6	16	10	9	72
13th	56	57286	Ellie Creighton	Bea Greenfield	Female	17	(UFD)	27	8	10	4	7	73
14th	50	55517	Emma Breese	Charlotte Beardsall	Female	13	13	‑16	10	13	11	15	75
15th	99	51369	Arthur Greaves	Angus McEwen	U17 Male	12	16	3	‑18	15	14	16	76
16th	39	54297	Mathias Potter	Olivia Creasy	Open Mixed	8	17	7	11	‑21	21	17	81
17th	62	54849	George Creasy	David Bromilow	Open Male	19	21	‑24	5	11	15	13	84
18th	24	56339	Heather Quinn	Gwyneth Lanyon	Female	14	18	4	19	17	‑20	19	91
19th	20	57272	Freya Sewell	Arthur Bailey	Open Mixed	11	7	21	9	28	17	‑29	93
20th	5	55402	Oscar Fry	Jemima Fry	Open Mixed	21	15	8	22	20	‑29	21	107
21st	54	53959	Tabitha Davies	Madeleine Greaves	Female	22	12	19	‑25	25	22	12	112
22nd	36	56467	Clem Middle	Sam Grayton	U17 Mixed	‑25	25	23	16	5	25	22	116
23rd	30	55169	Matthew Mason	Charlie Howard	U17 Male	23	8	22	20	22	‑28	25	120
24th	23	57273	Rosie Sheahan	Susie Sheahan	Female	20	23	11	‑28	24	23	20	121
25th	86	57214	Dylan Creighton	Will Adams	U17 Male	24	27	‑30	21	27	16	11	126
26th	31	53332	Jess Haigh	Lucy Shelter	Female	27	20	13	23	‑30	19	24	126
27th	22	52230	Nia Mecklenburgh	Immy Jones	U17 Female	26	(UFD)	18	24	14	26	31	139
28th	67	54089	Chris Hampshire	Ollie Lumb	U17 Male	‑30	26	12	27	29	24	26	144
29th	55	54124	Ella Martin	George Self	U17 Mixed	29	24	29	26	23	‑30	30	161
30th	40	54853	Oli Hale	Amber Hale	Open Mixed	(UFD)	4	25	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	165
31st	53	55375	India Lance	Cian Epstein	Open Mixed	28	22	31	(DNC)	31	31	27	170
32nd	16	54848	Zac Shepherd	Arthur Sothall	U17 Mixed	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	29	26	27	28	178
33rd	70	54947	George Lance	James Gosson	Open Male	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	DNC	204