Typhoon UK 29er Nationals & Open Championships Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy Day 3
by UK 29er Class Association 25 Jul 2023 17:58 AEST
22-26 July 2023
On Monday the sailors waited on shore with an AP/2 for what started as a shifty and unreliable breeze to settle. The Race Committee made the decision to shift the course from Portland Harbour to Weymouth Bay to take advantage of the northerly breeze.
After a general recall and further delay while a navy vessel traversed the course, the yellow fleet got away for Race 5 in the Qualifying series around 2pm, a consistent 11 knot breeze saw the Oscar flag in play.
Coming off the shore the wind remained shifty throughout the day and several course changes were required throughout the day to take into account the conditions. Winds were around 10-13 knots all afternoon until lightening off to around 5-6 knots at times during the last race of the day.
Radford & Beashel mastered the shifty conditions to score two race wins and a second.
The blue fleet were able to get their races away without any drama, while the last race of the day (race 8) for the yellow fleet had an intermittent rain shower on the start line, another general recall, and a black flag.
Ian Bullock, Principal Race Officer said "it was a long day on the water, and I'm glad to get a good qualifying series in".
Quotes from Joel and Logan, leaders after end of qualifying series:
Logan Radford (crew) AUS 3191: "good to be in the UK with some good conditions to prepare for the Worlds."
Joel Beashel (skipper) AUS 3191: "Racing was nice and tight and the competition was good with lots of room to keep learning."
The fleet now moves to racing for two days in the final Gold and Silver fleet series.
Results after Day 3 can be found here.