(Dartmouth, England)- The Tactick J/80 UK National Championship 2011 in association with Baltic Wharf is being hosted by the Royal Dart Yacht Club this June 8th to 12th. Amongst the fleet of 26 runners and riders is an extremely impressive group of old and new faces in the fleet.
Frank Rowsell is one of the "new kids on the block". Frank is based in Exmouth and is a very skilled skiff and dinghy sailor. East Coast sailmaker Matthew Vincent also makes his J/80 debut in Dartmouth this week in his brand new boat FLIPPER. Mark Greenaway and his crew on the imaginatively named TBA have plenty of sportsboat experience and are a very skilled sailing team; Mark will be looking to put everything he’s learned over the years into practice in the West country this week.
Local boat BALTIC WHARF, skippered by one of the youngest competitors at the event, Henry Bomby has shown great form before and one would certainly expect this talented young crew to finish somewhere "up in the chocolates" (e.g. "the podium"). Nigel Banford (Dartmouth’s J/80 Class Captain) has worked tirelessly to put this event together and he will be racing JUST SO.
The famous SPITFIRE, raced by the Royal Air Force team, Tony Hanlon and Andy ‘Rodders’ Rodwell have been super quick on the Solent in recent months and with the legendary Ian Southworth on board to call the shots, they are clearly serious contenders. They will be missing their front-man though: Simon ‘Sling’ Ling is part way through a tour in Afghanistan but will be watching his crew-mates performance when he can.
Stewart Hawthorn comes back to the J/80 fleet after some time away and he is always fast in JUMPIN JENGA. For the Nationals, Stewart has tactician Duncan McDonald (past I-14 World Champion) joining his crew, fresh from his win at the J/109 Nationals which took place last week-- talk about "loading the deck"! Also back after some time away are Rob Larke and his co-owner Nic Barnes, sailing their new rocket-ship J2X. They’ve been quick before and expectations are high for a strong performance this week.
Sailing Photo Credit- Tim Wright/ Photoaction.com For more J/80 UK Nationals sailing information
