Miracle National Championship at Tenby Sailing Club - Day 1
by Hannah Metcalfe-Smith 4 Aug 02:52 PDT
2-8 August 2025
Miracle Nationals at Tenby Day 1 © Thomas Metcalfe-Smith
The Race Officer made the decision to hold three races on Sunday 3rd August with Storm Floris scheduled to arrive on Monday, with a severe wind forecast. We set off in good time, with a 30-minute sail to the race area. The wind was strong to start with and gradually decreasing throughout the day.
The Miracles had a total of 16 entrants with an international entrant from the Netherlands Marcel and Bella Neuteboom making the big journey across. In addition, we have a boat which took part in the first Miracle Nationals being sailed by Steve and Laura Fischer (Sail Number 124).
Race 1
Lynn and Nick (4115) got away on the first beat up the middle and stayed away and took the win. Throughout the rest of the fleet the racing was tight with Graham and Helen (4114) going around the windward mark in fifth, but working their way up to 2nd place coming into the final mark were neck and neck with locals from Neyland SC Simon Turnball and Kiera Edwards (4050) coming in third place. Just behind in fourth place came new duo Hannah and Lilly (3805), with Wayne and Angela (4121) in fifth after
Race 2
The Miracles were getting into the swing of racing with enough over on the start line to cause a general recall and were subsequently black flagged. This lead to a much more orderly start line. Graham and Helen lead around the windward mark, with Hannah and Lilly following closely. Lynn and Nick followed without their kite up to start with allowing them to stay on track with the others putting it up towards the end of the leg, enabling them to move through the fleet to take first place, which they retained for the rest of the race. The wind opened up throughout the leg as the wind swung around to the north throughout the day. John Tippett and Kathy Boulton (4020) retired from racing for the day after testing the Tenby SC safety crews man-over-board drills.
Race 3
The tide had started to take effect in this race, with it being important to make the long tack first in the reducing wind strength. The Neutebooms (2007) had a fantastic first beat and were a long way ahead. Lynn and Nick closed up as well as Brian Jones and his grandson Jago (4021) throughout the race. Lilly and Hannah took a wrong turn and decided to sail with the GPs after the first mark mistakenly. They swiftly realised their mistake and returned to the Miracle course. This did drop them down the fleet a bit, but by the end of the race, they made up the places through some astute reading of the tide, leading them back to fourth! On the final beat, Brian and Jago seemed to move away from Lynn and Nick, and with Marcel and Bella took the left-hand side of the course, which due to the tide didn't pay, losing their first place to Brian and Jago, with Lynn and Nick following closely in second, Marcel and Bella taking third and Hannah and Lilly coming in fourth. Elsewhere in the fleet, father and daughter duo Ian and Mia Brown were doing well, but were scuppered by hitting the mark and having to do turns, letting Wayne & Angela, Simon & Kiera, and Graham & Helen through.