3-4 October 2009

Back in May, strong winds forced the cancellation of the J/24 Spring Cup, and as the fleet reconvened in Weymouth on Saturday, for a belated re-run of the event, it looked like another days racing would fall victim to adverse weather. But on this occasion, the wind was from the west, so Weymouth’s geography meant that the Committee Boat had no difficulty in anchoring and setting a course in the Bay. With crews hiking hard and mains ragging, the fleet got away on the last UK-based World Qualifier of the season. National Champion Gavin Watson tacked early and headed straight for the beach, finding a favourable right hand shift to give “Reloaded” the lead at the weather mark. Nathan Bachelor followed in Bob Turner’s “Serco”. Both boats hoisted and thoroughly enjoyed the planing conditions. Further back, the majority of the fleet judged the conditions too difficult to risk spinnakers. By the end of the second run, Watson had stretched his lead from Bachelor, with Jardine in third, Cooper fourth and Knapper fifth.

Seeing the fleet’s sensible approach to the downwind conditions, the Race Officer felt there was no problem in firing off two further races. The top five was exactly the same in Race 2, but this time Watson was only fifth at the weather mark. Good heavy weather down wind technique took him to second place, before Serco’s bowman lost his footing and the ensuing broach flipped a crewman over the side. As they sorted themselves out, Reloaded took the lead – whilst taking careful note that all were safely back aboard Serco – and were never challenged.

Race 3 saw a slight drop in the wind and brought much tighter racing at the front of the fleet. Watson, Jardine and Bachelor fought out the top three places, the lead changing hands more than once, before Jardine’s “Stouche” eventually prevailed. Overnight, Watson had a three point lead from Bachelor and Jardine, with Cooper another three behind.

Sunday was a major contrast, with lighter, shiftier winds from the North West. Watson got a good start in Race 4, rounding the weather mark just ahead of Cooper’s “St James”. But on the run it was Cooper, cannily staying to the right, who took the lead. With Watson needing only to stay ahead of Jardine and Bachelor to win the event with a race to spare, Reloaded opted to cover on the second beat. This proved costly, as the softening breeze and yet bigger shifts gave both “Stouche” and “Serco” the chance to attack. Meanwhile, Roger Morris was showing that big gains were possible, finding good breeze on the left and quietly romping up to second place. Reloaded suffered badly on the run, losing out first to Stouche and then, on the finishing line, to Serco – leaving Watson a point short of an outright win. With the regatta leaders locked together on the run, Cooper and Morris were not challenged – David Cooper and his popular crew from Plymouth winning an open meeting race for the first time, after a number of near-misses!

Race 5 demonstrated both the closeness of the fleet and the unpredictable nature of the wind. Initially, Watson led from Bachelor and Jardine as they headed for the right hand side of the course. Then it was Morris’s turn, finding better breeze and the inside of a lift – on the left hand side, that had served him so handsomly in race 4 – lifting him to first place at the weather mark, from Cooper. Morris led comfortably for the rest of the race – also giving him a first open meeting race-win. The overnight leaders were left sailing their discards, whilst Cooper’s good morning’s work lifted him into third place overall. Stuart Jardine finished second, with Watson taking the Spring Cup. The Royal Dorset put on a great weekend of racing – more than making up for the one that we lost in May. Once again, the J/24 fleet enjoyed close, exciting racing.

In the battle for places in the UK team for Sweden, Stuart Jardine, Thijs Knapper, Roger Morris and Nick McDonald join Watson, McCarthy and Cooper as UK qualifiers. Whilst Nathan Bachelor also qualifies in his own right, he will go as Bob Turner’s Chairman’s pick. One qualifying event remains – the Europeans in Crete – where Ian Southworth will surely book his place, the former European Champion needing only a top 16 finish to do so! And should one of the four UK entries actually win the Europeans, it would open another place for Stig McDonald to join brother Nick as the final UK representative. Congratulations to all the UK qualifiers.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Boat Name	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1	4265	Reloaded	Gavin Watson	1	1	2	5	(7)	9
2	4215	Stouche	Stuart Jardine	3	3	1	3	(5.5)	10
3	4497	St James	David Cooper	4	4	(5)	1	2	11
4	4247	Serco	Nathan Batchelor	2	2	3	4	(5.5)	11
5	4270	Jolly Roger	Roger Morris	6	(8)	6	2	1	15
6	4222	Phoenix	Thjis Knapper	5	5	4	(6)	3	17
7	4064	Legal Alien	Nick McDonald	(8)	6	7	7	4	24
8	4254	JuJu	Rob Clark	7	7	(8)	8	8	30
9	4044	Clewless	R. Fruehmann	(DNF)	9	9	9	9	36