(Weymouth, England)- The Weymouth Olympic Sailing Center hosted their
annual Weymouth Regatta that included the J/24 UK National
Championship. The organizers were blessed with beautiful weather,
gorgeous breezes both days of racing for all. The J/24s showed up
en-masse ready to do battle to determine the 2011 UK champion-- several
veterans showed up that included past J/24 UK Champions, like Stuart
Jardine from Royal Lymington YC.After the first days racing in the steady breezes punctuated by long wind streaks, it was self-evident that one team simply had everything dialed in to go fast, stay out of trouble and show their transom to the rest of the fleet. By day's end, Bob Turner's SERCO from Castle Cove SC simply smoked the competition, starting off with three bullets and a second to lead by a large margin. Nipping at their heels and still within striking distance was Mark Penfold from the RYA sailed RELOADED.
The
second day of sailing again dawned with good weather and a nice breeze
from the southerly quadrants. Again, Turner's SERCO team stepped on the
gas pedal, dialed in a 1-2 for the first two races, then simply coasted
home in the last two races with a 7-6 to win with 14 points.
Brilliant sailing is an adjective that comes to mind to describe their
remarkable, somewhat sparkling performance! Maintaining their second
position was Mark Penfold's team on RELOADED, finishing with 20 points.
A perennial class leader, Stuart Jardine from RLYC sailed his latest
generation J/24 STOUCHE to a strong third, narrowly missing out second
by one point! Fourth was Darren Stansbury from Saltash SC with 30
points and fifth was Roger Morris on JOLLY ROGER from Parkstone SC. Sailing photo credits- UK Fotoboat.com For more J/24 UK Nationals Sailing information
