J/24 UK National Championship at Brixham Yacht Club

J/24 UK Nationals at Brixham © James Mills

J/24 UK Nationals at Brixham © Tim Octon

Four J/24s sailed round from Plymouth for the event, leaving 9 to be craned in on the 40 tonne crane. A fun fact about Brixham is that it was the landing site for William of Orange during the Glorious Revolution in 1688. He arrived with a large mercenary army before marching on London to be crowned King William III.

Brixham is also known for its fishing industry, particularly trawling, which was developed there. The trawlers love yacht racing as it adds a new dimension for them in terms of marine traffic and colregs.

Friday 13th

Very light winds forecast with a wind shutdown and torrential rain forecast. The rain didn't come but the wind was fairly accurate a difficult day for Sean Semmens the PRO.

Race 1 - Dave Hale on Ffold first followed very closely by Chris Randall on Hitchhiker. The race was run in very light wind that was constantly moving. The three boats that went port on the final run came in at the back of the pack by a long way.

Race 2 - Dave Hale on Ffold first, Jawbreaker second.

The overnight Podium was Ffold first on 2 points, John Gorman's Italian Job second on 7 points and James Torr third on 9 points.

Saturday 14th

Champagne sailing forecast, champagne sailing delivered.

In the pre start a couple of boats tried genoas and quickly came back to jibs as it was a solid 20 plus knots with significant gusts all day. tThe plan was to run five races and catch up from day 1. It was going to be a day of white sails, tacking on shifts, and holding on downwind. Brilliant conditions for the world's original sports boat.

Race 3 - Ffold first Majic, second Jawbreaker, third looks like Ffold is going to run away with this
Race 4 - Majic first
Race 5 - Majic first
Race 6 - Majic first
Race 7 - Jolly Roger first

Things were now getting interesting as James Torr led Dave Hale by one point if you apply a discard, which made for a deciding final day. Third place was held comfortably by NJO2 as Jawbreaker picked up a penalty that was settled by arbitration (it's two turns for a boat on boat incident in the zone).

Sunday 15th

The wind was down from Saturday and from the West (although moving around a lot which kept Race Officer and his team on their toes), the fleet sailed under genoa.

Race 8 was won by Sam Marshall on Wijit, finding a very favourable shift up the right hand side of the first beat they went on to win by 200 meters from Ffold (who was guiding Majic around the course).

Race 9 was again won by Wijit with Jolly Roger in second and Jawbreaker in third. Sam was moving up the ranking and was now challenging NJO2 for the final place on the podium. The two protagonists sailed each other down the fleet with Majic fourth and Ffold sixth.

Race 10 was the amazing last race that would decide the Nationals. There was a masterclass by Ffold in how to sail your opponent down the fleet. Dave Hale on Ffold just needed James Torr not to finish first, so when they had sailed Majic down to 9th in the fleet it looked like job done. At the final windward mark NJO2 rounded first (finished fifth) with Ffold in third and it looked like a procession to the finish with everyone taking starboard gybe down the run in very light pressure.

Ffold were very happy to not engage with any other boat and just rolled down the track. Majic in ninth gybed on to port and hooked into a band of pressure that brought them down the run at 6 plus knots (from the front of the fleet you could see them getting closer and bigger every few seconds) whilst the fleet on starboard were doing a steady 4 knots. Majic just rolled through the fleet, stepped out to port on the run by 400 metres. Despite a reaction from Ffold to get as far port as possible to hold Majic out the two boats met at the Committee Boat end of the line with Majic half a metre ahead. A massive cheer on board Majic followed as they heard their number called out first and realised that they are National Champions. Congratulations James and his team.

If you want to try a sailing a J/24 at an event the club has a couple of competitive boats available for loan just contact the class association.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the J/24 nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here