Hornet National Championship 2023 at Mumbles Yacht Club - Day 1

The fleet were greeted with a warm welcome at Mumbles with sunshine, beer and the wind following the forecast (combined with drills and an angle grinder in the dinghy park)... at least until it came to launching when all hell broke loose and rigs were raked for the featherweight teams.

Race 1

With a solid force 3, a clear start saw Jo Powell have a cracking start and the fleet were off. Following a close beat, Curtis/Poulloin rounded just ahead of Garry/Woolner and closely followed by Jo & Richard in 2115. Few place changes followed as the angles downwind made overtaking, or indeed being overtaken, tricky. However, a minor sailing instruction reading error (potentially the fact they weren't paying enough attention in the comprehensive briefing) meant the 3 lead boats decided they were going to finish early and headed to the line after lap 3, only to look back and realise they shouldn't have done.

Three laps of carnival procession and space had suddenly turned into something more similar to a Formula 1 sprint race for the final lap and Curtis/Poulloin took the bullet. After a downwind tussle, Skudder/Hills went round the outside of McNnamara/Chatterton and Garry/Woolner at the final leeward mark to take second and the others finished retrospectively.

Race 2

The forecast shift to the right and tide change ment there was no clear choice of which side of the beat was favoured. Another clear start and off we went with the breeze softening and swinging.

Terry & Gavin popped out to the mark first, closely followed by Garry and Woolner then the Scottish pair of Storky & Mark. The following 4 laps were a constant changing of places with a particularly notable masterclass in tactical manoeuvres from McNamara over Garry up the 3rd beat and the top 7 boats changed constantly with a swinging and dropping breeze. This making the angles downwind critical and the crew weight the difference between flat wiring and sitting on the side.

Nigel Skudder lead the fleet towards Swansea looking for small orange buoys, incredibly closely followed by 6 other boats when Uncle Tim Coombe and Nephew James (taking advantage of their wind range) spotted the mark to leeward to take a literal run off into the lead.

After much place changing and a few close calls on the rules, the fleet followed suit from the first race, Curtis and Poulloin wiggled through to take the gun, Skudder and Hills second, Mike Mac & Harry third and Garry/Woolner fourth.

With all to play for and the most consistent results in the top 4 for many years, bring on some breeze tomorrow!

Results after Day 1: