Miracle National Championship 2023 at Brixham Yacht Club - Overall

Miracle Nationals trophies © Tanya Copsey

The Miracle Nationals concluded yesterday with another wavy day in Torbay, but with significantly less wind than Thursday.

The first race of the day started in reasonable wind conditions, but turned into a bob-athon, with the last lap of the course taking as long as the preceding two. The race officer was taking no chances with an unruly fleet and put us straight into the U-flag.

Coping well with the challenging conditions, Ian & Ella Fryett won the race, with Jon & Jess Willars close behind. Wayne Atherton and Angela Sweeney, secured their second third place of the week.

The second race of the day had more consistent breeze, with the waves building in size. There was a switcheroo at the front of the fleet with Jon & Jess Willars taking the win, with Ian & Ella Fryett coming in second. Simon & Vivienne Turnbull secured their second third place of the week, managing the challenging conditions very successfully.

The Crews Race was held directly after the Points races in a decent breeze which was missing earlier on in the day, as Storm Betty started coming in. Jess Willars took to the helm, aged 9, competing against seasoned veteran helms in Nick Smith and Ian Brown. Novice helms Tom Metcalfe-Smith and Stephanie Clark also gave it a go.

Jess led the race from start to finish, with Nick & Carolynn Smith coming a close second on the water. Ian & Lilly Brown followed in third, but was over the line on the start and was disqualified via the U-flag. This meant that Tom Metcalfe-Smith took third place in his first ever race as helm, with Stephanie & dad Andrew coming in a sterling fourth position.

Overall, the Nationals were held in challenging and incredibly varied wind and wave conditions throughout the week. There were five different race winners, five different teams taking second place and seven different teams taking a third place.

Consistency of results meant that the overall winners for a second-year running were Ian & Ella Fryett, with Jon & Jess Willars coming in second, and newcomers to the fleet, Baabii'o Flowers & Tom Semmens, taking third place overall.

Simon & Vivienne Turnbull won the silver fleet. Paul & Nathan Robinson won the Bronze fleet.

The Miracle fleet had a wonderful time at Brixham Yacht Club, with sterling race organisation on the water and excellent on-shore support from the team helping us out onto the water and back in again. The team in the bar and catering for the week kept the sailors and their families well fed and watered throughout and were excellent hosts for the various social events including the Commodore's Reception, BBQ and quiz night, AGM and the prize-giving dinner.

A final thank you to Sailingchandlery.com for sponsoring the event and providing prizes to go alongside the trophies. All in all, a week well spent on the water with very happy sailors making their way home today.

Ian and Ella Fryett win the Miracle Nationals at Brixham - photo © Tanya Copsey

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Miracle nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

(NSC = boat did not sail the course as defined by rule A5.1)