Hornet National Championship at Royal Torbay Yacht Club - Day 1

Hornet Nationals at Torbay Day 1 © John Pollard

Hornet Nationals at Torbay Day 1 © John Pollard

19 Hornets have ventured down to the Royal Torbay Yacht Club for the 2025 Hornet Nationals.

The morning started wet so most of the fleet took refuge in a local establishment for a cooked breakfast and a few coffees. Those who got masts up in the sunshine the day before were feelint smug while others rigged in the drizzle. By the time of the briefing the rained had cleared, wind had settled and everyone was keen to go sailing.

Race one started on time in 8-15 knots of WSW breeze, with the fleet all heading to the breeze on the left. Nathan Batchelor with his usual crew Sam Pascoe were first to the windward, closely followed by a pack of boats which included Michael Mcnamara, Nigel Skudder, Kevin Francis, Justin Jones and Terry Curtis. In true Torbay style there were lots of snakes and ladders across the course, and with the pack all looking over their shoulders at each other Nathan and Michael managed to pull out some distance to the chasing pack.

As the race progressed Nathan and Sam kept the chasing pack of Michael, Nigel and Terry at arms length but the race for second was all to play for down the last run and the finish line. Halfway down it looked like Nigel had sailed in to one of the many big holes Torbay is famed for and looked like they had dropped too far back, but this is Torbay, and from nowhere the breeze filled in around Nigel and he sail through to take second.

Race one finished with Nathan first, Nigel second and Michael third. In the middle of the fleet there was some great closed racing with lots of place swapping with sixth to ninth finishing within a few boat lengths of each other. Special mention to Gareth and Will Russell coming a respectable fifth, who were up to third at one point in the race.

With a quick turnaround by our race office Bob Penfold race two started in slightly more and stable breeze. With the whole fleet going middle right it was all very close round the first windward mark. Michael rounded first ahead of Nathan, with a pack of boats that included Dean and Adam Saxton, newcomers Jake Willars and John Tailby who passed tons of boats downwind by gybing off into more pressure.

As the race progressed Nathan pulled away from Michael, who was being preoccupied with keeping Terry at arms safe arms length. Jack was slightly further back but had a healthy lead over the group of five to six boats battling for fifth. Special mention to Gareth and Will Russell who were feeling smug on the inside of a busy bottom mark rounding but forgot to get the kite down on time so missed the mark initially.

Down the last run, and another downwind finish line, Richard (Dick) Garry, Justin Jones, and Nigel Skudder were were swapping places and all three rounded the last leeward mark together and Nigle Had dropped their Kites ready for the short reach to the finish line, but Justin tries to gybe his. This caused a bit of chaos, with Nigel stuck in his lee, and it finished Dick, Justin then Nigel, with some heated chatter between the three on the sail in.

Results after Day 1: