Solo Season 2024 and the release of SoloInteractive 21
by Will Loy 24 Nov 2024 09:44 PST
Pim van Vugt raised the bar © Will Loy
Here we are near the very end of another Solo season, a new Nation's Cup and National Champion and the first Dutchman since Mark Tigchelaar won at Medemblik in 1990.
Pim van Vugt's Olympic background in 49ers provided a perfect platform for his assault on the pinnacle of Solo excellence and has possibly opened the flood gates for other elite sailors to come and have a go. Personally I believe that the very best sailors participation in our Class raises the standard of the fleet, that said, there is no way some of our guys will adhere to a no alcohol ban and as for balanced diets, forget it.
We should not forget that Oliver Davenport was leading going into the final day and only lost on count-back, certainly his name will feature on the silverware very soon. To back up my theory on fleet improvement, the Dutch looked very strong at ONK where Pim won but Saskia Arnold took him to task when the physicality was not required. The social side was on-point of course and bodes well for the 2025 Nation's Cup, Lake Como where the Dutch will host.
North Berwick is the venue for our National Championship and I can testify that the air is clear, the water is cold and the welcome is warm so please do pencil this prestigious event into your calendar. We have made it a week long regatta given the distance required to travel and it is worth every mile.
Cherry-pick the events you want to do and clear the dates with your partner before booking your accommodation, ferry or plane. Hopefully I will see you there and make you famous.
SoloInteractive 21 is now published, please take a look to see what the Solo Class is all about.
President's Report by Guy Mayger
In the blink of an eye the 2024 Solo season has come to an end, sadly.
Looking at the Super Series, a total of 362 (55 NED) competitors took part across the 8, plus 1 Area, qualifying events. Once again, our little boat continues to offer some of the best racing within the UK.
Our Super Series champion for 2024 was Oliver Davenport, who really is mister consistent when it comes to racing at the major events throughout the season.
Quietly spoken, I have no problem with that, Olly is a credit to the class being generous with his advice and being one of our mainstay coaches, particularly for the Midlands area. Always worth asking him for go-faster hints and tips on how to improve your Solo sailing.
If you're interesting in getting a closer look at Olly's boat, I'm pleased to say that 6110 will be one of the boats on the Solo stand at the 2025 Dinghy Show with her helmsman in close attendance to answer your questions.
Since I last wrote we've also had the Nigel Pusinelli at Salcombe and the End of Seasons at Draycote.
As Mr Loy will report elsewhere in this edition, the Pusinelli turned out to be a one-day event as the Sunday was blown out by some hefty breeze, unfortunately. But that didn't stop Tim Law putting on an excellent performance, winning the two racings held on the famous Ria on the Saturday. A couple of boats may have been a little quicker upwind, but Tim masterfully controlled his competitors, shadowing and corralling as he needed. This, of course, comes as no surprise to those of us who've raced against Tim over many years.
At the End of Season championship, we were once again given light winds to contend with, similar to 2023. Having checked with a local expert (let's call him Mr Brown) on how to best negotiate his home lake, I then proceeded to totally ignored his advice and was lucky enough to come away with the win. After a slightly quiet year on the results front, I was very pleased to pick this one up.
I also particularly enjoyed class Vice President, Paul Davies, picking up the win in the first race of the day.
What with other Committee members, Steve Ede and Nigel Davies, also collecting wins throughout 2025, maybe getting involved the class association will also boost your results? We have a couple of vacant positions, so please feel free to get in touch.
One person who has stepped forward is Fraser Hayden. He has kindly been helping behind the scenes with some of the results. Fraser's first bit of handy work was to sort out the Sea Series results and I'm delighted to announce that our series winner is Jarvis Simpson! As one of the folks who helped make our Brightlingsea Nationals such a success, I'll hopefully get the chance to present Jarvis with his trophy at the Dinghy Show. With the End of Season event completed we were able to verify those who qualified for the North Sails (series sponsors) £500 vouchers. I was delighted when Andy Carter's name came out of the hats and I know he has already been in touch with our friends at North Sails to discuss a lovely new sail for the 2025 season. Congratulations Andy!
Whilst the official Solo class events are done for the year, I particularly enjoy the later stages of the year and the club winter series. This a great time to try new things, play with you rig setting a or maybe try some different techniques without the pressure of open meeting or nationals event results to be worrying about. Maybe some of your local hotspots are now back to club racing and this offers a great chance to line up against them and make some gains.
Looking ahead, 2025 is going to be another action-packed year. Two major highlights are the Nations Cup at Lake Como, 21st - 25th June, followed by National Championships at North Berwick, 3rd - 8th August. Further information is included in this edition of Solo Interactive and further details will follow. Both will be awesome events with North Berwick named as the best UK venue by one of your committee members, so I'm particularly looking forward to racing there and enjoying the Scottish hospitality.
Our Dutch friends are firming up the last of the arrangements with the club at Lake Como and we'll advise you on that as soon as we get it.
Don't forget the Dinghy Show 22nd - 23rd February at Farnborough, then the first two big Super Series events are the Winter champs at Rutland 8th March and the Springs at Whitstable 27th April.
For those who might be racing at any of the major winter Sail Juice events, I wish you good luck and represent the class well.
Sail fast, sail smart.