Tacktick J/92 UK Nationals at Hayling Island Sailing Club

J/92 nationals action at Hayling © Lucy Jameson / www.aroundthecans.com

1.5 Points in it – ‘Just in Time’ win it

The J92 and J92/S UK National Championships were this year hosted by the Hayling Island Sailing Club and sponsored by wireless electronics specialists Tacktick last weekend.

The race management team, ably headed by Bev Moss, did an excellent job especially given the light variable winds which persisted throughout the weekend. The racing was back to back on upwind downwind courses with each race lasting about an hour. There were ten boats competing at the event.

The racing itself was extremely tight with small mistakes being severely punished. Unfortunately there was a communication mix up on the Friday about handicaps which led to the loss of Friday’s racing results. This was more than made up for by the five races on Saturday followed by generous drinks vouchers in the bar (thank you HISC). There were some sore heads on Sunday morning after the J dinner and we were grateful for just the two races.

The close racing was reflected in the results with only a few points separating the top boats. Every race was made to count and in the end it was Andrew Roberts and Stephen Etheridge’s Just in Time which squeezed ahead of Richard Sparrow’s Who’s to No followed by Nick Over’s Jostix which had made the journey all the way from Plymouth.

Andrew Roberts, when asked what he deemed to be the key to Just in Time’s success on the racetrack said ‘We had a very young crew, new to the boat, who worked extremely well together. I was really impressed. Stephen Etheridge (my co-owner) and I share the helming and I think we were very quick downwind in the light stuff’.

At the prize-giving, Vicky Roberts thanked HISC, Bev Moss the Race Officer, her fellow competitors and Tacktick for their generous support of the event.

Overall Results: