Ovington Boats 29er Championships at the WPNSA

The Ovington Championships, one of the highlight events of the 29er sailing calendar, was held at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, over the weekend of the 11th and 12th November.

Once again the boom in the UK 29er class saw 50 plus boats taking part across the weekend - an incredible success.

DAY 1

The first morning of the Ovington Championships event began and as always WPNSA provided their great breakfast as the sailors were starting to arrive. The weather was stunning and it was all looking hopeful. Unfortunately after the sailors briefing the wind had disappeared leading to the launch time being indefinitely postponed and the committee staying on standby on the water, waiting for the wind.

A couple hours had passed by, with everyone having lunch and sunset closing in, the race committee decided to send us out with only one chance for a race. With moderately light conditions and some keen sailors, the start began with a general recall. Second attempt with sunset appearing fast, they manage to get a race off. With a SE direction the course was fairly shifty and gusty making the racing very hard to read. Unfortunately for the team 3334 (James Crossley and Amelie Hiscocks) after a large lead, came to the finish and found out that they were over with a couple other boats who started at the starboard end. However in the end the winners of the race (and the day) were sail number 2903 (Joe Wimpory and Jamie Gatehouse). That was the end of the racing day and now for the Quiz night.

Ovington Boats 29er Championships at the WPNSA - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

The night began with the evening meal, Fajitas supplied by the club and soft drinks from the bar. Once the sailors were refuelled and ready to go, the Social reps (Anabelle Vines and Charlie Gran) began to collect a bag full of the sailors phones in order to stop any cheating.

The Quiz consisted of 5 stages: Picture round, music round, knot round, how well do you know the 29er and Olympic round. After every 2 stages the papers were handed in and marked, the scoreboard had been changing all night. The final round consisted of 1 person per team to come up and to have a plank off. It came down to 5 minutes in and there were only a couple left (James Crossely, Alex Jones, Nick Rogers, Tristan Alhied). Coming upto 7 minutes Alex and James were out and it was down to Nick and Tritan to decide the winner, after a tough and long fight Tristan had held the Plank for the longest finishing the night with a Win !

Overall a brilliant night and thanks a lot to WPNSA for the catering and to Melissa Hepell and Sarah MItchell for organising the Quiz.

DAY 2

Day 2 dawned a cold and crisp morning with around 15 knots of wind blowing down the race track. The fleet were eager to launch so when D Flag went up at 0930 - there was no hanging about!

Ovington Boats 29er Championships at the WPNSA - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

The first race provided the most wind of the day with around 18 knots of puff. Charlie Gran and Sam Webb came off the committee end of the line looking strong and led to the windward mark and the finish. Finn Morris and Oliver Vines also put in a shift to finish in second place.

Race 2 was a tricky one for all teams to crack. The race began in light airs with the wind blowing from the left hand side of the bill. Strong out of the pin end were Youth World representatives Annabelle Vines and Maddie Bilbrough although this proved to be a curse. The wind clocked hard right during the first beat giving those on the right a huge lift and leaving those on the left in a state of misery as they watched the other side come in strong.

Ovington Boats 29er Championships at the WPNSA - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

Getting it right and leading to the windward were the soon to be event winners Jac Bailey and Ben Sinfield and they did well to hold onto the lead for the remainder of the race. By the third race, the wind had clocked round to now be blowing from the right hand side of the bill. Taking advantage of the new wind direction were Joe Wimpory and Jamie Gatehouse who sailed a strong race to take the win.

By the final race of the day, the attention of the race committee was turned to the 45 knot gusts that a live wind station was reading a mere 80 miles West, in Salcombe. Fortunately, they made the correct decision to go ahead with the race, giving many a much needed discard after quite a few letters and a smattering of large numbers had been picked up over the previous races. Fortunately for the newcomers, Jac and Ben, they sailed another great race to pick up a second place whilst their competition for the event win, Joe and Jamie, came in 5th. This meant they clinched the title by a sole point and took home some well-earned chocolates.

Ovington Boats 29er Championships at the WPNSA - photo © Phil Jackson / Digital Sailing

By the time the front runners had finished the final race, the wind had started to build so the fleet squatted on the kicker, stuck the bow down, and sent it in towards the beach. This made for an exciting edition of the most important race of the event, the "race to the hose". With the fleet ashore, and a few protests settled, the prize-giving took place. Wonder host, Philip Lightbody took to the stage, dishing out handshakes and highfives like there was no tomorrow. Ovington nailed it with the prizes, kindly giving a few foil bags, water bottles and dock bags for the top teams so a huge thanks to them. Also a big thanks to WPNSA for hosting and of course to our wonderful parents who basically do it all. Without them, the weekend would have involved a bunch of unhappy teenagers sitting at home wishing they were sailing!

All in all, a great weekend was had down in Weymouth with lots of fun on and off the water. Bring on the winter training!

Overall Results: