707 National Championship 2019 at Tees & Hartlepool Yacht Club

707 National Championship at Tees and Hartlepool YC © Ian Lynch

The 707 National Championship 2019 was took place at Tees & Hartlepool Yacht Club from 27th - 30th June. Last year's champions SeaWord narrowly retained their title from 2018, but the increasingly competitive fleet made it far from plain sailing this year.

The event will be fondly remembered by all participants for the legendary hospitality on offer at Tees & Harlepool YC, and perfect sailing conditions befitting of a national championship, with clear winds and little tide.

Day 1 saw glorious sunshine, as always seems to be the case when the 707 fleet comes to Hartlepool, with a light but steady breeze. SeaWord laid down a marker by taking a bullet in the first race, followed by Partial Pleasure and Mojito. SeaWord were not to have it all their own way though, as in previous years, and they and Partial Pleasure exchanged bullets in the subsequent races. The young guns on Partial Pleasure, winners of the recent event on the Forth, certainly seem to suit the light conditions!

The final race of the day was won by Forth-based Blue Funk, who had an excellent day always finishing in the top five. It was also an excellent day for Welsh-based Lola, who travelled up to their first class event for many years. Their strong results on the water (and in the bar) were an excellent addition to the fleet, and we hope to see them again at more class events. With their excellent performance at this event, combined with another Welsh crew having an excellent Scottish Series, there is a growing and ultra- competitive fleet developing in Wales and we look forward to seeing more of them at events. Day winners were SeaWord, DOTD went to Sharky for crashing into Rammie between races whilst being too busy to look where they were going.

Day 2 was unexpectedly breezy and continued to build throughout the day, resulting in some spicy racing and fantastic photos of boats planing! SeaWord and Partial Pleasure took a 1 - 2 in the first race of the day, but as the wind got up other boats came into contention. Local lads Sharkey took a first and a second, but boat of the day was undoubtedly Mojito who won the day with a 2 - 1 - 2.. With a combined age of over 300, it goes to show that there's no substitute for experience in challenging conditions! Tallulah took DOTD for borderline planing into the lock, only to be saved by the strong arms of Blue Funk. The 707 Class Association AGM also took place on Friday after racing, full details of which will be made available to members shortly.

707 National Championship at Tees and Hartlepool YC - photo © Ian Lynch

On day 3 the wind reverted back to light mode, and swung around as the sea breeze came into play. Lola won the first race of the day, before SeaWord won the next two to start to slightly pull away from the rest of the pack in the overall standings. Lola also picked up a race win, a just reward for an excellent few days of sailing from the boys from Wales. Day winners were Partial Pleasure, DOTD was again secured by Tallulah, as one their crew had to be evacuated to the committee boat due to a bout of 'sea sickness'.

On day 4 no racing took place, with strong winds early in the morning and building throughout the day. The silver lining was all boats were able to pack up and crane out for the long journeys home to all corners of the UK - from Felixstowe to Findhorn and across to Wales! This was helped in no small part by the fantastic effort in getting all the boats craned out in record time. Overnight results therefore became the final results. SeaWord retained their title from 2018, with Partial Pleasure second and Blue Funk third.

Honourable mentions to Autism on the Water, who although results weren't as they would have hoped did a great job as ever of raising Autism awareness by sailing the event as a family crew. Class Association owned boat Miss Moneypenny was borrowed by a group of students from Scotland, who had some promising results over the weekend and thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to get out in the water. The boat is available for events later in the season should any groups be keen to get out on the water. It was also great to see several boats from other Northern clubs make the event - Black Sheep and A Grand Day out from Scarborough, and Feeling Rough from Sunderland. The fleet is undergoing something of a revival in the North and we are very much looking forward to this year's Northerns and Scarborough YC.

The Seaword team win the 707 National Championship at Tees and Hartlepool YC - photo © Scott Graham

Thanks must go to Tees & Hartlepool YC, as well as Micky Early and the boys from of Sharky, for organizing and coordinating a really superb event. Huge thanks to all the sponsors of the event, without whom we couldn't have had such a successful nationals - Hartlepool Marina, Purple Bricks, Benromach, Love Hartlepool, Rubber Johnnies, Enjoy Tees Valley, and Hyde Sails.

The next event is the 707 Northern Championship, hosted at Scarborough Yacht Club 3rd - 4th August. There are boats available for charter and boats looking for crews should anyone be keen to get involved in the most competitive one design fleet in the North! Get in touch with the committee, check out our website, or find us on Facebook to find out more and get involved!

Overall Results: