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| Comments for 'Congratulations to the new Dragoon National Champions' |
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| Posted by NickH on the 14 September 2008 |
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The Dragoon catamaran National Championships took place on the 23rd to the 25th of August at Pevensey Bay Sailing Club. The first day dawned windless and the boats lined up on the start line at about 1 o’clock. After the first lap Charles and Harry Willett from Minnis Bay Sailing Club took a convincing lead on the other boats, followed by newcomers to the Dragoon fleet Charlotte and Dan Fenn. As the wind started to build Seb Samways and Dan Channing, made an amazing recovery fighting their way from dead last to 4th place.
The wind continued to build in the second race with the Willett brothers taking the lead again with Samways /Channing close. Unfortunately the Willett Brothers were disqualified after failing to go through the gate on the way to the finish on the last lap. Subsequently Samways/Channing took the race with Andy Sinclair and Jessica Findlay from Weston Sailing Club and Bala Catamaran Club taking second.
With heavy wind now set in, the third race saw a spectacular pitchpole from Samways/ Channing. Sinclair/Findlay took a first and the experienced team of James and Kelly Henson took second.
Sunday bought a huge swell and near gale force winds and after a 2 hour postponement racing was abandoned for the day.
Monday saw conditions much like Sunday however to get a discard at least 1 race needed to be sailed. The conditions were not good for Dragoons with most of the fleet doing synchronised pitch poles on the bear away at the mark. Team Henson were going extremely well in the strong conditions, until they were hit by a massive gust which meant the end of the race for them. New comers to the sport, Patrick and Benny Harrison took a well deserved second whilst Megan Smith and Georgina Quayle from Grafham took a well deserved 4th. Andy Sinclair and Jessica Findlay took the first to become National Champions. (Editor – Andy & Jess sailed very well and fully deserved the accolades!)
The final results were:
1st Andy Sinclair and Jessica Findlay
2nd Charlotte and Dan Fenn
3rd James and Kelly Henson
4th Patrick and Benny Harrison
5th Seb Samways & Dan Channing
6th Charles & Harry Willett
7th George Quayle & Megan Smith
8th Louis & Alexa Gorringe
9th Dominic & Pippa Davies
Event Report by Jess Findlay
Race 1 Report from winners Charles & Harry
The Hobies were sent out for the first race of the competition in very little wind. The committee boat was a fair way out to sea and so it was a challenge to get out to the start. Every boat however got to the start but due to the light and flukey wind that was plaguing the race course the race was postponed and the wind totally died. When the Dragoon 5 minute went up it was very difficult for the sailors to get to the line due to the light wind and ripping tide. When the class flag came down and the hooter sounded we were off, but very slowly. A lot of boats had come from behind the committee boat, where as some had started at the port side of the line. This seemed to of paid of as the wind hit that side first and as it steadily increased. The people that started on the port side were off. The wind had now increased to a steady force 2-3 and was ever increasing which made racing a very pleasurable time in such a lovely wind. At the windward mark on the last leg there was quite a big gap between the top 2 boats and the rest of the fleet. Charles and Harry were jostling for position on a very tactical down-wind leg, but due to a quick gybe Charles and Harry just got ahead. The end result of the first race was 1st. Charles and Harry. 2nd. Charlotte and Dan 3rd. Andy and Jess.
Race 2 Report from winners Seb & Dan
Conditions
• BFT Force 4-5 winds gusting to 5-6 – westerly, offshore winds
• Four foot waves, some breakers
Good start had by all: James & Kelly, Jess & Andy, Dan & Seb, Harry & Charlie and Charlotte & Dan had an especially good start, crossing the line together within 5 seconds of the start-gun. Everyone, except Dan & Seb tacked off onto the portside of the course, which entailed lighter winds and a lifting shift which causes a later tack in lighter winds. At the windward mark it was still even, with Jess & Andy calling starboard over Dan & Seb, with Harry & Charlie not far behind. After ducking the two teams, Dan & Seb tacked, only just making the windward mark. Bearing away out to the spreader mark was risky business as this is an accident black spot for pitch-poling. The downwind leg suited Jess & Andy and Dan & Seb with more weight to keep the bows out of the water. Seb & Dan gybed into stronger wind which allowed them to head lower with more power and speed. Jess & Andy and Harry & Charlie were both overtaken on the downwind leg by Dan & Seb. This lead was held by Dan & Seb on the upwind leg, with both helm and crew on the wire, closely followed by Harry & Charlie in a lighter team. The same tactics as the first lap were employed in the downwind leg which lengthened Seb & Dan’s lead to about 15 boat lengths.
At the downwind gate Seb & Dan tacked off again onto the starboard side of the course and tacked in a lifting shift which slowed them down and let Harry & Charlie lead to the spreader mark. On the downwind leg there was a drag race between Jess & Andy, Seb & Dan and Harry & Charlie, with Harry & Charlie crossing the finishing line first, although missing a gate which cost them the race. On the finish line Jess & Andy were stood squarely on Seb & Dan’s wind which would have made Seb & Dan lose the duel if it wasn’t for the well timed wave that took them across the finish line to safety and one 1st place under their belt.
Race 3 Report by race winners Andy & Jess
The wind and swell was set in for the afternoon. We had a good start and found ourselves just behind Seb and Dan. We chased them to the windward mark which they rounded first. We then had an excellent down wind leg making gains and getting very close to Seb and Dan as we approached the gate. Seb and Dan then proceeded to put in a spectacular pitch pole just in front of us leaving us in the lead to take first place.
Race 4 Report by race runners up Patrick & Ben
Day 3: This was actually the second day of racing at Pevensey as it was too windy to sail day two. It started out as a calm day; I wouldn’t have thought it was more than a force 3. As we waited to go out the wind grew a lot stronger after a few postponements, the race officer sent us out to sail. As my crew and I launched the boat we accelerated away from the shore. It was a very frantic first few minutes getting settled as the boat was rocking one way and another.
As we followed Andy and Jess to the start line we were amazed as they raised there spinnaker.
As the Shearwaters crossed the start line for the first leg it was a wake up call for how close our race was to starting. As we moved closer to the start line I shouted over to a neighbouring boat to ask how long before our start. I was shocked to hear that we only had around ten seconds before the horn went.
As the fleet bounced over the waves on the first beat, we knew that we couldn’t afford to make any mistakes. We rounded the spreader in 3rd and saw that Andy and Jess were speeding away with there spinnaker flying, but we knew that if we capsized that we would not be able to right the boat, so we kept ours in the shoot. In second place were Charlotte and her brother. We watched as they hoisted their spinnaker to the top, and then watched as they went straight down a wave and pitched poled.
We sailed straight passed there turtled boat. All we had to do now was not to nose dive. Now in third were James and Kelly Henson, they had also raised a kite but we were a good fifty metres in front of them so we did not worry.
Rounding the spreader mark in the second and final lap, we were still in second but only just. We started the down wind leg, again with out the kite, but my crew was watching out to see if James and Kelly who were still in third to see if they had hoisted the spinnaker. Not surprised I watched as it was pulled out the shoot. We were both watching them carefully to see if we had to hoist ours to keep our position. I looked forward to keep us going in the right direction then looked back round to see that James and Kelly had unfortunately pitch poled. This secured our 2nd place finish, after Jess and Andy who raced amazingly. It was so windy that only 3 out of 9 boats finished the race.
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