2008 Nationals Details

Event Report

The 2008 First 40.7 National Championship was held on the 10th & 11th May 2008. The Organising Authority was the Royal Southern Yacht Club and the event was arranged by the UK 40.7 Class Association. Any feedback from competitors on the racing should be sent to Lucy Burn, Sailing Secretary at the The Royal Southern Yacht Club Tel: 02380 450302 sailing@royal-southern.co.uk

Full Results can also be viewed on the Royal Southern's website here. More photos can be view here

Race Report by Eddie Mays for the First 40.7 Association
Copyright © Eddie Mays 2008

The 14 entries for this year's championship, hosted by the Royal Southern Y.C., had to wait until early Saturday afternoon before there was enough Westerly breeze for P.R.O. Peter Bateson to set a simple two lap windward / leeward course.

The first start saw two boats called OCS as Richard Lovering helming Gareth Williams' 'Challenger' judged the layline perfectly to reach the top mark just ahead of Paul Jenkins and his Activ Power & Sail team on board 'Addiction'. 'Addiction' slipped back on the run and Tim Spalding helming 'Love Shack' gained the inside berth to round the bottom mark in 2nd.

The leading positions stayed the same on the 2nd lap only for 'Love Shack' to find that she was one of the OCS boats. Race 2 was over the same course and was another battle between 'Challenger' & 'Love Shack'.

'Challenger' again hit the layline exactly right to take the inside berth at the windward mark from 'Love Shack' with Guy Prest's 'Tarka' on their tails. The leaders went round the leeward mark together and still couldn't be separated at the end of the 2nd b

eat. It was only when 'Love Shack' took a more westerly course down the 2nd run that 'Challenger' pulled a few yards ahead.

The last race was a 'round the cans' course that took the boats back towards the Hamble. With the wind still light 'Addiction' made a good start in clean air and was able to establish an early winning lead. She was followed around the course by 'Challenger' but with the tide now running strongly westwards each mark acted as a tidal gate and the peleton were never able to catch the leaders. Returning to the clubhouse Tim Spalding requested redress for the OCS call in the first race and presented enough compelling evidence for the Protest Committee to re-instate his 2nd place result. This left 'Challenger' ahead of 'Love Shack' overnight with 'Addiction' 3rd.

The Royal Southern hosted a championship dinner in the evening and Ancasta Boat Sales supported the evening by providing a selection of fine wines. So it was probably as well that the only noise to be heard on Sunday morning, when the boats arrived at the starting area off Lee-on-Solent, was the distant sound of rapid small arms fire from the Army Training Range at the entrance to Stokes Bay.

As 10:00 approached the early morning breeze faded and then began a long swing from West to Southeast. Once there it did settle and build sufficiently to allow the first race to start at 11:45. With the tide taking the boats towards the line the race was started under Flag 'Zulu'. Most tacticians decided that the Committee boat end was the place to start and in the melee several were forced out and two, 'Portia' (Andrew Iyer) & 'Big Bamboo' (Nick Margree), suffered damage and had to retire from the day's activities. 'Love Shack' gained an early lead and covered 'Challenger' up the first beat, rounding the mark just ahead of 'Tarka'. With the tide running towards Portsmouth there was only option for the run back to the leeward mark. The only decision was how close to go to the shore before gybing out. The positions remained the same on the 2nd lap with 'Tarka' following 'Love Shack' home. 'Addiction' posted another 3rd ahead of 'Challenger'.

The next race used the same course and the first beat was probably the closest racing of the weekend. In the pre-start manoeuvrings 'Challenger' dipped astern of 'Love Shack', powered up and took the edge at the gun. Halfway up the first leg the leaders were all together. 'Challenger', ahead and to leeward, had room to tack onto starboard and she toppled 'Addiction', 'Euphorix' & 'Love Shack' onto starboard but 'Love Shack' managed to squeeze into clear air and took a boat length's lead into the mark ahead of 'Challenger'. These positions were maintained on the run back but at the start of the next beat 'Challenger' was close enough astern to force 'Love Shack' to leeward of the rest of the fleet whilst escaping herself into clean air. 'Love Shack' still had a slight edge on speed and kept her lead to the line. This meant that the title would be decided by the result of the last race.

The final race was again a 'round the cans' race that cascaded westwards back towards the Hamble. Paul Dentskevich's 'Euphorix' led 'Love Shack' around the top mark with 'Challenger' back in 7th place. 'Challenger' then struck a lonely course out in the middle as all the rest went inshore. Peter French on 'Anticipation' made the best fist of it to take the lead rounding the next mark ahead of 'Love Shack' before they reached across to East Bramble side by side.

Behind them a strategically anchored fishing boat forced Nicholas Gaumont-Prat, 'tfs Philosophie IV', to put in a port tack that lost him valuable time and places. Positions throughout the fleet appeared to be gained and lost at various stages of the downwind legs but in essence the pecking order was established. The only real gain was by 'Euphorix' who managed to take 2nd place behind 'Anticipation' and ahead of 'Love Shack'.

With six races completed a discard was allowed and this was vital to the overall results. 'Challenger' and 'Love Shack' both finished with a nett score of 10 points but the Championship went to Gareth Williams on 2nd count back. Each won two races but Gareth scored an extra 2nd place to tip the balance. There was also a tie-break for 3rd & 4th places. and Paul Jenkins' Activ team edged past Paul Dentskevich by dint of winning the 3rd race and so Paul won the North Sails trophy for the best newcomer. Gareth Williams also won the Class award for the highest placed finisher who had not had a podium finish in either the 2006 or 2007 Nationals.