(Dartmouth, England)- The Tacktick J/80 National Championship 2011 in Association with Baltic Wharf was hosted by the Royal Dart Yacht Club from the 7th to 10th June. The twenty-six boat fleet reveled in a variety of conditions across the eight race championship series from full on a full on thirty knot foam-up on the first day through to a much more ten to twelve knots on the final Friday. The fleet fell in love with Dartmouth during the course of the Nationals and in return, Dartmouth delivered the some of the most exciting racing coupled with the warmest welcome that the J/80 Class has experienced in recent years: a super precedent for the 2012 J/80 World Championship which is scheduled to be held in the port a year from now.
The
last two races of the series were scheduled on Friday morning, and
precisely as you would expect, every single boat on the track,
irrespective of their position on the leader-board, arrived in the
starting area with a job to do, a specific set of personal goals to
achieve results-wise and a ‘target’ finishing position. No real surprise
then that this jittery bunch pushed a general recall on the first start
of the day and the deployment of the black flag thereafter, catching a
few out and only serving to add to the tension. Rob Larke won the first
race of the day in J2X but this was not enough to significantly narrow
the points gap between his boat and Kevin Sproul. A win for Sproul in
the final race confirmed the series victory and the Tacktick J/80 UK
National Championship title for the crew of J.A.T: Kevin Sproul, Adrian
Gray, Phil Taylor and Chris Taylor.The Prize-giving Dinner took place at the RDYC on Friday night, and duly kicked off with music dancing and much J/80 mayhem, but not before Sproul delivered his thanks to his crew, the Royal Dart Yacht Club and all of the event sponsors: Tacktick, Baltic Wharf, Darthaven Marina, Henri Lloyd, North Sails, Rockfish, Scanstrut and Dart Sail and Cover.
Sproul reiterated the thoughts of all of the competitors when he said ‘Dartmouth is an amazing place. The hospitality we have received here is second to none and we, the J/80 Class have made many new friends in this port. The 2012 World Championship is going to be an awesome event and not to be missed’. For more J/80 UK Nationals sailing information
