Shearwater and Tornado National Championships and open handicap meeting at Minnis Bay Sailing Club

Adam Piggott & Reece Webb win the Cat Open at Minnis May © Eric Holmgren

Paul Palmer & Dan Tindale win the Tornado Nationals 2025 at Minnis Bay © Mike Graham

Over the four days of August 7 to 10, Minnis Bay Sailing Club set itself the challenge of hosting the National Championships of two classic catamaran classes, in the shape of the Shearwaters and the Tornados, and, so that some of the club members, who were well known previous contenders in those classes, could also participate, a handicap open was also run alongside them, which attracted F18, NACRA 17, Hurricane 5.9SX and Dart 18 sailors to compare notes and past glories.

The welcome sight, and sound(!), of over 70 visitors and club members filling the clubhouse, dancing to homeboy DJ Busby's tunes, a beach games night, scoffing fish and chips, BBQ, chili, and a final prize-giving dinner, tested the resources of the friendly Kent club, not least its bar stocks!

The racing, ably controlled by RO Stuart Offer and his hard-working mark-laying team, tasked the competitors with strong tides, swinging wind and, on one day, none of it, and a fantastic finale of force 3-4, flat water and sunshine giving a perfect twin-trapeze memory.

The Tornado and handicap fleets only raced over the weekend, so the Shearwaters had two days to themselves. They arrived, mostly on Wednesday but a couple early Thursday morning, ready for ten championship races over four days but easing in gently with a short practice race and the first two championship races to familiarise themselves. They had asked for Olympic courses to make full use of their symmetrical spinnakers, so these were duly laid each day while on the weekend the other fleets were set long windward/leewards with a spacer mark, but both used a common leeward gate and a start/finish downwind of it.

Thursday was overcast with an offshore SW F2 but occasional gusts of top 3 and 20 degrees shifts mixed in. A tricky day made more so by the 2.5Kn tide diagonally across the track tempting some of the Shearwaters to try and lee bow it out to sea but eventually over the three races, all found the convergent bend inshore more beneficial.

Pete and Josh Jary ignored the practice race omens and hit the finish line first, but in the first championship race James Gibbons/Reuben Stuart, showing superior speed in the stronger pressure, particularly upwind, banged two firsts while next best Nigel and Sarah Stuart counted a 3 and 2, leading a very tight group of Ben Farnborough and Jenny Allen on 6 and Shaun and Emma Allen on 7. The first race exposed some rusty teamwork on some of the boats, some spinnaker hoists and drops not going smoothly, and with the close groupings in the peloton, mark roundings offered opportunities for grabbing places if the manoeuvres were well planned.

Shearwater Nationals 2025 at Minnis Bay - photo © Mike Mitchell

Friday was a contrast - W F1 half and sunshine was enough to just make over the tide. Norman/Tulley remembered what they did best and hit two bullets; in contrast Gibbons/Stuart scored a 4 and 10, dropping them down the standings, while Farnborough/Allen counted a 2 and 3 and the Stuarts a 5 and 2. Other encouraging performances were from the Allens who, despite an unfortunate incident at the start of the first race for which they exonerated themselves, hit an 8 and 4, and Richie Hanmore and Anna Allen with sail no 200 made a 3 and 8. Sadly, before the planned crews' race could be held the sea breeze cancelled the gradient, the AP over A drooped from the committee boat mast, and the towlines were deployed on the support boats. Inevitably a gentle F1.5 NE sea breeze established after everyone was ashore. The points before discards kicked in put Farnborough/Allen in first, on 11, the Stuarts second on 12, Norman/Tulley third on 14 and Gibbons/Stuart fourth on 16 so all these had a strong chance of chocolates.

Shearwater Nationals 2025 at Minnis Bay - photo © Mike Mitchell

Saturday brought a W F2+ with wind wiggling 10-15 degrees as the sea breeze tried to take over, giving the RO another head-scratching day, but as he is growing his hair for charity, he couldn't pull it out. After the first race the gradient wind calmed the wiggles down and all enjoyed some high-speed hull-flying. The Tornado and handicap fleets joined in, making the track more crowded, another reason to keep heads out of the boat. The top of the Shearwater fleet had a big moving day as Gibbons/Stuart put the burners on in the increased pressure, scoring a 2, 1, 1 and Norman/Tulley held on with 1, 3, 2, but Farnborough/Allen and the Stuarts faded slightly, managing 3, 5, 3 and 6, 4, 4 respectively. As the first discard applied, Gibbons/Stuart moved back into the lead with a net 10 but a big discard of 10 made their position a little uncertain, while Norman/Tulley dropped to second on 14 but only dropping a 6. Farnborough/Allen were another three points back but only discarding a 5. The final day would be interesting!

In the Tornado fleet, the entry of four boats kept the same order for each race apart from the second race. 410 sailed by Paul Palmer and Dan Tindale, dominated the fleet with three bullets, Robert Govier and David Figgis, 402, were second each time and Peter King with Tom Oliver sailing 404 third apart from the second race when they had a DNS, letting Adrian Howe and David Foster with 422 into third.

The handicap fleet, consisting of three F18s, a NACRA 17, a Hurricane 5.9SX and a Dart 18 S/H, generated some sibling and intra-club rivalry; the Northrop brothers, "Nobby" and Oli were sailing F18 and NACRA, and they both shared club membership with the Hurricane and Dart. The long W/L course did not favour the Dart against all the others flying kites downwind, but the leading two F18s and the NACRA virtually raced boat for boat on the water. The F18 of Nobby Northrop and Caleb Cooper, 067, started the day with a 1 half minute win over Adam Piggott and Reece Webb, also on an F18, 524, with Oli Northrop and son Will on the NACRA just under 2 minutes behind. Kevin Skinner and Mandy Cox on the Hurricane were fourth, sailing one less lap but crossing the line first using the average lap system. F18 560, sailed by Richard Golden and Justinian Tomegea, were fifth, and the Dart, as expected, was sixth.

The second race, with slightly less wind, gave Piggott/Webb the advantage over Northrop/Cooper and also the Hurricane was able to beat the NACRA on the water to claim third, otherwise positions were the same. Piggott/Webb were able to win the third race as well, while the NACRA and Hurricane reversed order again. The first day points total showed the top two and the third/fourth positions each with one point difference.

As hinted at above, the Sunday finale was bright sunshine, a flat sea and a NE F2 veering E and the sea breeze enhancing the pressure a notch.

Shearwater Nationals 2025 at Minnis Bay - photo © Mike Mitchell

In the Shearwater fleet, Shaun Allen, helm of 1999, sadly had to dash back home, so after having rerigged his mast the day before following a broken forestay, he generously offered the ride to anyone to keep the fleet numbers up and give his young crew Emma another day's experience; Andy Fitt, the Dart 18 sailor in the handicap fleet, jumped in, probably relishing the opportunity to sail in something competitive, and promptly scored a 2, sliding to a 7 and 8 but enjoying the chance despite being nagged by Emma in the crews' race. In the main battle, after the first two races Gibbons/Stuart had reinforced their leading position, with a 3, 1 against a 4, 3 for Norman/Tulley, a 7, 2 for Farnborough/Allen and 1, 5 for the Stuarts, but the final race brought in jeopardy for Gibbons/Stuart as a startline incident protest was resolved against them leaving them with a DSQ and 14 points, meanwhile Norman/Tulley won, Farnborough/Allen were second and the Stuarts third. The Jarys rediscovered their earlier form with a 4 in both this and the previous race but by now their inconsistency gave them too much of a hill. So, although their total points put them in fourth place, the two discards (total 24) allowed Gibbons and Stuart to win by 4 points from Norman and Tulley with only 12 points dropped.

Shearwater Nationals 2025 at Minnis Bay - photo © Mike Mitchell

The Tornados continued their race order from the previous day with one slight change - Govier/Figgis swapping second and third places with King/Oliver in the first race of the day but resuming second for the last two, so Paul Palmer and Dan Tindale had a nice picket fence and a 1 to drop., Govier/Figgis were second and King/Oliver third.

The handicap fleet saw Piggott/Webb - F18, Northrop/Cooper - F18, and Northrop/Northrop NACRA 17, continue their first, second and third places from the day before, ending overall in that order, while the Hurricane of Skinner/Cox listed two 4s and a 5 against Golden/Tomegea finishing the day with a 5, 5, 4 on their F18. Fitt on the Dart had jumped ship to the Shearwaters so ended way behind on points.

Big smiles were visible as the tired crews came off the water having completed their full quota of three races each day, with in addition the Shearwater crews also brave and fit enough to swap ends for their crews' race, won by Stuart and Gibbons, after the serious stuff had finished.

Overall Results:

Shearwater Nationals
If you finished in the top ten at the Shearwater nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

Tornado Nationals
If you took part in the Tornado nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

Handicap Open