J/24 UK National Championship at the Port of Plymouth Sailing Association
by Jolly Roger 15 Jul 2023 15:55 BST
7-9 July 2023
J/24 UK Nationals at Plymouth © Lorna Graham
As part of the 2023 Plymouth Regatta, the Port of Plymouth Sailing Association ran the 2023 J24 Nationals. There were ten entries with 10 races over three days of Friday 7th, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th of July.
Dave Rollinson was the able race officer having occasionally to deal with difficult conditions, supported by his mark layers.
The weather was very sunny and the fleet managed to avoid the rainstorms on Sunday.
On Friday, the average wind was 10 knots, gusting up to 18. On the Saturday, the average was 5 knots, gusting up to 10 and on the Sunday, an average of 8 knots, gusting up to 18.
On the Friday, the racing was south of the breakwater in quite heavy swell. The fleet was divided in the conditions as between jibs and genoas with boats broadly performing equally overall with either. The national winner, Dave Hale and team in 'Cacoon', made his mark by winning race 1 and reprising himself in race 3 with another 1st.
Roger Morris and team in 'Jolly Roger' won race 2. Chris Randall in 'Hitchhiker' was unfortunately in OCS in race 2.
On the Saturday, the fleet again went out to south of the breakwater but with the much lighter winds and the continuing swell, Dave Rollinson very sensibly postponed the racing for this to take place inside the breakwater. Sailing in the much lighter conditions was much more difficult.
For the first race of the day, Tim Octon and team in 'NJ02' had a 1st in race 4, Sam Marshall in 'Widget' had a 1st in race 5, 'Jolly Roger' had a 1st in race 6 and Ben Maddaford in 'Jam' had a 1st in race 7, benefitting from some breeze that he found in race 6 on a long starboard tack from the start line deep into Jennycliff Bay.
On the Sunday, there was more breeze and the racing was again south of the breakwater but still with some swell. 'Cacoon' managed a 1st in races 8 and 9, leaving him in a position where he did not need to race in race 10. 'NJ02' won race 10.
Unfortunately, for 'Jolly Roger' and 'Jo-Jo' they were both OCS in race 9.
The overall results were 'Cacoon' 1st, 'NJ02' 2nd and 'Jolly Roger' 3rd.
With thanks to Dave Rollinson and his team and to Sam Marshall and his team in organising the event.
Overall Results:
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| Pos | Boat Name | Owner | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | R9 | R10 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 4269 Cacoon | Dave Hale | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | (DNS) | 19 |
| 2 | J02 | Tim Octon | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | ‑6 | 1 | 28 |
| 3 | 4270 Jolly Roger | Roger Morris | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 2 | (OCS) | 3 | 32 |
| 4 | JIC | James Torr | ‑8 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 34 |
| 5 | JAM | Ben Maddaford | 2 | 6 | ‑7 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 35 |
| 6 | JIT | Sam Marshall | ‑7 | 7 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 41 |
| 7 | 4213 Hijinks | Mark Lewers | 5 | 3 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 6 | ‑9 | 2 | 6 | 52 |
| 8 | 4242 Hitchiker | Chris Randall | 6 | (OCS) | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 59 |
| 9 | 4013 Violent J | Jason Culmer | ‑9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 77 |
| 10 | 4103 | Adam Rogers | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | (OCS) | DNF | 90 |