Draycote Water - 4th and 5th July 2009
Report by Phil Walker and John Mather
A good turnout of 25 29ers attended the Harken Grand Prix hosted by Draycote Water at the weekend. For many sailors this would be the last event before they headed off to the 29er Worlds in Lake Garda.
The breeze was blowing over the hill and dumping onto the lake which made for very shifty and gusty sailing conditions with big gains and losses to be made on each leg. Alex Horlock and Tim Walton got off to a flying start and led for the whole race. Ben Clegg and Tim Linsell came in second.
Inconsistent shifts and gusts remained for the second race which was won by Tom Durham and George Hand (Zhik) followed by Phil Walker and John Mather (Team Harken) with Adam Larvin and new crew Jane Furness in a very commendable third place.
It was a swap around at the top in the third race with Phil and John taking the win with Tom and George in second. Once again a different pairing stepped into the top three with Alex Mothersele and Hamish Ellis taking 3rd place.
The final race of the day was won by James Briggs and Chris Peel , followed closely by Phil and John with another new all girl boat entering the top three this time with Philly Gray and Jo Lucas.
Overnight Phil and John were winning with a two point lead over Tom and George and Adam and Jane 4 points behind second place.
Sunday once again had shifts of over 50 degrees which made working out which way to go upwind very hard. Consistency was proving to be the key to success but with such huge variances in wind direction and speed this was hard to come by. Tom and George managed to put their excellent boat speed to good use and posted and impressive score line being the most consistent boat on Sunday. This led them to victory even after a last minute charge by Phil and John after hitting the pin end and rafting up managed to round the windward mark 2nd but couldn’t quite catch Tom and George.
Overall Tom and George won, Phil and John were second and Alex Horlock and Tim Walton were third some 15 points behind 2nd place which shows how tricky the conditions were to master.
Hayling Island on the 9th & 10th May
This weekend saw a good turnout at Hayling Island Sailing Club for the 3rd Round of the 29er Harken Grand Prix and 49er Open Meeting. In spite of GSCEs and A Levels over 30 boats competed in this event, which also counts towards the Harken Grand Prix series. Early forecast indicated a good breeze on Saturday and 3-4 knots on Sunday.
Day 1 - As forecasted, Saturday proved to be a steady 15knots from the south. Conditions outside the harbour were challenging with heavy chop making it difficult for all competitors. Although with the sun shining and a warm wind, racing was bound to be good. On the 29er course however, at the start of race 1, the strong tide pushed many boats over the line and a general recall was needed. Tom Durham and George Hand finished the race in 1st place, with Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten 2nd, Alex Mothersele and Hamish Ellis 3rd. Race 2 and 3 saw the first two competitors switching place, which resulted in Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten leading at the end of day one.
Day 2 – Sunday saw an improvement in the earlier forecast, with 14knots blowing from the South East, dropping to 8-10knots. In the 29er fleet once again Tom Durham and George Hand sailed consistently, achieving a 1st in race 1 and race 3. Alex Mothersele and Hamish Ellis took 1st place during race 2, followed by Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten. In the final race Adam Kitchen and Jeremy Williamson stormed through to take 2nd place.
Once again Harken provided a great spread of prizes for the 29ers:
Results
1st - Tom Durham and George Hand
2nd - Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten
3rd - Alex Mothersele and Hamish Ellis
1st girls - Philippa Gray and Joanne Lucas
1st mixed - Adam Larvin and Siobhan Escritt
Series Rutland 21st & 22nd March
With the first of the Harken Grand Prix Series at Rutland last weekend was well attended with 32 29ers turning up to take part. They were greeted with sunshine and about 2 knots of wind.
By the time of the first race kicked off the wind had increased to a fairly steady 5 knots. Max Richardson and Alex Groves lead from the start and won the first race with Anne Noble and Hailey Muram in second. The wind was forecast to go right and drop off but by the second race it had swung left and picked up to a good 8 knots. Bleddyn Mon and Nick Redding (Harken) stormed around the course and got the bullet with Max and Alex in hot pursuit finishing second. Dave Hall and Fiona Hampshire came in third. The wind was similar for the third race of the day and Henry Lloyd-Williams and Sam Batten (Rooster/Harken) sailed a solid race to take the win with Max and Alex in second. The fourth and final race of the day was won by Alex Horlock and Tim Walton with Keith Escritt and Emily Stiles in second. Overnight Max and Alex were winning with two points between them and Bleddyn and Nick in second.
Four races were scheduled for Sunday and with an increasing forecast with gust up to 18 knots it would prove to be a testing day for many teams. Bleddyn and Nick won the first race of the day in very shifty gusty conditions. Phil Walker and John Mather (Harken) came in second with James Briggs and George Hand (MPS) in third. Bleddyn and Nick were starting to get into the swing of things and won the second race by a healthy margin, Max and Alex finished second and Ida Marie Baad Nielsen and Marie Thusgaard Olsen all the way from Denmark finished in third. In the increasing wind conditions Max and Alex ran away with the penultimate race of the day with Bleddyn and Nick snapping at their heels all the way round coming in second. Team Denmark was proving consistent in this breeze and put another third on their scorecard. Bleddyn and Nick decided they wanted to finish the weekend in style and won the final race of the day with a convincing lead. Alex and Tim finished in second with Phil and John coming in third.
Overall Bleddyn and Nick were the winners of the first event in the Harken 29er Grand Prix Series, Max and Alex finished second and Team Denmark finished third.
The 29er Class would like to thank Harken for supporting the Grand Prix series and the Race officer for turning round the races so quickly.
–Phil Walker, Sail #1324
Six Events
Harken are to be title sponsors of the six events across the country for the 2009 29er Grand Prix Series.
The series will be made up of 6 regattas and will culminate in September at Northampton Sailing club. Great prizes, regatta support and a big prize giving will all form part of the series.
The events are:
Rutland SC 21/22 March
Sunderland YC 2/3 May
Hayling Island SC 9/10 May
Draycote Water SC 4/5 July
Lymington 12/13 Sept
Northampton SC 26/27 Sept
Comments from Andy Ash-Vie (Managing Director of Harken UK):
"We are looking forward to being title sponsor of the 29er Grand Prix series in 2009. We have worked hard in conjunction with the class association and Ovington Boats to provide a mix of support and prizes for the sailors. We hope that is will be a successful and enjoyable series for all the sailors and we cannot wait to watch the results."
For further information
Harken UK
Phone: 01590 689122
Links:
29er Class Association: www.29er.org.uk
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