Noble Marine Comet Trio National Championship at Brixham Yacht Club

Comet Trio Nationals at Brixham © Sharon Padro

Comet Trio Nationals at Brixham © Sharon Padro

Comet Trio Nationals at Brixham © Sharon Padro

Eighteen Comet Trio took part in the Noble Marine National Champs held at Brixham Yacht Club. The fleet consisted of ten MK2 and eight MK1 Trios.

Sun, Sea, Seals and Seagulls greeted the Trio's for what would turn out to be 3 days of close exciting racing with a mix of breezes. On day one, light breeze was the order of the day and a mix of windward/leeward and triangle/sausages courses which tested the fleet especially on the long dead downwind legs with increasing tide and wave swell.

The highlight of the day one was the close MK1 battle between, Simon/Lou Doliczny (364), Sam/Chris Mayne (348) and Richard Salliss /Carol Williams (490) running down to the finish with barely a boat length between them. Hotly followed by John Andrews/ Heather Taylor (373).

As the boats came down towards the 3rd of the leg it was at this point that Sam/Chris had wished they had paid more attention the sailing instructions as they frantically tried to work out which end of the committee boat was the finish line. Unfortunately they had gone too far to the right and although then came in at a tighter angle at speed, it was not enough for 1st place which went to Simon/Lou. Would this point difference would come back to haunt Sam/Chris at the end of the championships?

In the MK2 fleet, Ade/Tracie Padro (505) won race 1 in their brand new boat that had arrived just 2 weeks prior to the event, and Andrew/Caroline McAusland (501) won race 2 with Guy Farrant/Graham Sykes (428) taking 3rd place in both races. It was certainly a battle of the pink spinnakers for first and second places!

Brixham Yacht Club hosted the class a superb dinner with wonderful sea views and even a couple of seals popped up to see us!

Day 2, with 3 races scheduled with a mix of Windward/Leeward and Trapezoid courses, some of the boats were a bit too keen and were over the line and had to return to the start, one boat who thought to be over the line later found out they were not over the line but had re-started anyway. As the youngest helm Callum Padro/Chloe Broad (357) sailed brilliantly throughout the competition only to find out in race 4 they were OCS.

In the MK1 fleet, Richard/Carol, Sam/Chris and Simon/Lou all took race wins and in the MK2 fleet Ade/Tracie, Andrew/Caroline and Bob/Collette also took race wins, meaning that going into the final day of the championships it was all to play for with any one of the top 3 able to take the championships.

The class were treated to an entertaining evening of live music and a BBQ from the top chef at Brixham Yacht Club.

Final day, and with all to play for the winds gods were initially not playing fair. A light breeze led the fleet out to the bay, the race officer wisely postponed the race and awaited for the sea breeze to fill in, which thankfully it did with a decent 15knts coming over land.

With Sam/Chris and Simon/Lou in the driving seats for the MK1's either one of them only required a top 2 results between them to win. However Richard/Carol had not read the script and secured 2 race wins. John Andrews/Jane Higgins (373) took two seconds places so it meant that Richard/Carol and Sam/Chris were tied on 8 points each. So on count back this meant that Richard/Carol had secured the MK1 Nationals Championships 2019.

In the MK2 fleet, it was equally a thrilling finish with Ade/Tracie requiring 2 race wins, Bob/Collette also requiring 2 race wins and Andrew/Caroline only requiring one race win, it was going to be a tight finish. In the end, Ade/Tracie managed to hold off the both boats by covering at every opportunity and went on the win the MK2 National Championships 2019.

A special mention for Dave Lee and his son Isaac who is aged just 13, both very new to the fleet and sailing, and sailed exceptionally well in the light and windy conditions.

The Ancient Mariners Trophies went to:

• MK 1: Godfrey and Jan Ayres
• Mk 2: Rex and Sue Frost

Some snippets:

• Youngest helm aged 19 - Callum Padro
• Youngest crew aged 13 - Isaac Lee
• A helm who had recently capsized his 74 year old mum
• The Padro clan had a support boat feeding them sandwiches and drinks between races - ice cream selling was a missed sales opportunity!
• Special thanks to Sharon Padro for the photos, also taken from the Padro support boat!
• Some nifty dancing moves on Saturday night
• Comet Trio / Brixham Regatta event led to some interesting evasive action including Comet vs 49er port starboard incident - not sure who would have come off worse
• There was also a Blaze sandwich with the Comet being the filling!
• And where was "Bobs Bobble?"

Thanks to Noble Marine our class sponsors and Peak Dinghy for donating a new North Sail Jib for the raffle - also won by the Padro's!

Overall Results: