1DL National Championships Results

Mitchell takes inaugural title

Photo © James Wilson Start line action

A crisp, cold morning greeted the group of radio controlled landyacht sailors as they assembled at the Ferryport beside the Poole Yacht Club at 9am. This, the inaugural National Championships attracted 20 1DL landyachts with many of the regular sailors and some new faces.

Practice was slippery with ice still in many areas, but this generally was gone by the time racing started at just after 10am.

The racers were first divided into 4 groups of 5 so that a qualification series could be used to divide the fleet into Gold and Silver divisions. This was achieved by each group racing with every other group with 18 races with no discards. Sailors who were not racing were made into ‘on-the-water umpires’ for instant decisions and also picked up any landyachts that had capsized. Racing took place on the standard two lap windward-leeward course of 2 laps. A leeward gate was used to divide the fleet at the bottom mark.

From the start Craig Mitchell showed that he meant business, racing using the 1DL flagship rig on his ‘Shabinet’, winning the first two races and qualifying first overall. Then Mark Jardine showed some the form that won him the Woolston event earlier in the season with 3 wins on the trot, later inconsistency lead to 3rd in the series. Matt Curthoys, with a new rig, then put together two wins and completed a very consistent qualification series to go into the Gold Fleet in second place.

Qualification Series Overall

Jostling for position - Photo © Gordon Watson

After a break for lunch and the points from the qualification rounds were calculated racing started for the Silver fleet. The final position from the last round became the first result for the finals, so Ritchie Cunningham, who had qualified in 11th place after the round robin, was the favourite to take the Silver Fleet plate. This he completed in some style, with three bullets in the five race series. There was a close battle behind with Bob Preston & Rory Moore both finishing on 20 points. Both had one 1st in the series, but Bob Preston had a 2nd place which gave him 2nd place overall by the tightest of margins.

Now racing started in earnest for the Gold fleet and the National Championship title and the coveted ‘Ming Vase’. Craig Mitchell was favourite after the qualifying round with Matt Cuthoys at his heels after an excellent qualification round. Craig held his nerve to start with a 1st and a 2nd. Things were not so good for Matt with a 7th and a 10th. Justin Heap who had qualified 5th made a burst with a string of top three results. After 5 races Craig Mitchell sailing ‘1DL’ had a slim 3-point lead over Justin Heap. Craig was on the back foot after scoring his worst result and Justin had just won. Was this the moment that Justin would carry on to take the title? Craig soon answered the questions put to him with three bullets in the final three races to take the title by a 7-point margin. Justin Heap held second, with Mark Jardine in 3rd. Matt Cuthoys recovered from his start of the Gold Series to take 4th overall just ahead of James Wilson who was sailing Dr Ben Vines’ ‘Viagra’ – Ben was unable to attend the event as he had to deliver babies. 6th place went to ex-Marblehead World Champion, John Cleeve, sailing a 1DL for the first time and improving at a rate that had the regular landyachters worried.

At the prizegiving everybody thanked Ian Moore of 1DL for organising the event. The use of ‘on-the-water’ umpiring and marshals for picking up capsized yachts worked brilliantly and the qualification rounds were completed with military precision. This format will no doubt continue in future events. Craig Mitchell will now be organising the next National Championships to be held spring 2000. Many thanks must also go the Poole Yacht Club and the Ferryport for use if their facilities.

Gold Fleet Overall

Silver Fleet Overall

More information:

• www.1dl.co.uk