(Poole, England)- It was never supposed to be this easy. Show up for an
event with twenty-strong J/24 teams from across Great Britain and simply
walk away from the fleet with nary a day’s practice underneath their
belts. Say it ain’t so, bro! Well, that’s pretty much what happened in
the recent U.K. J/24 Nationals.Twenty teams signed up for the Nationals which was blessed with fair sailing and sunshine with everything from 5 to 20 kts of breeze, surf, slop and flat water, ensuring that the teams on top were masters of all conditions. Each race saw race leads seesaw as the fierce competition pushed teams and kept everyone on their toes. However by the time each race came to conclusion, Duncan McCarthy’s MADELEINE crew from Parkstone YC had worked their way into the top places leaving them with an enviable scoreline counting nothing less than a 3rd place after TEN races! Yea, count that! Ten! Jeepers creepers. But go figure on their consistency- they counted just three 1sts, three 2nds, and three 3rds and tossed a 5th for just 18 pts net! Awesimo, dudes!
While the MADELEINE crew set a new standard for themselves, the SERCO, CHAOTIC, CACOON and JOLLY ROGERS crews had their work cut-out for themselves. Winning that battle was Bob Turner & Ian Brown’s SERCO from Castle Cove SC with several strong closing races, having match-raced CHAOTIC into a toss race on the regatta finale and securing second overall for themselves with 31 pts net. Third was Nick Phillips’s Parkstone YC crew on CHAOTIC with 38 pts net. Fourth & fifth, respectively, were Nick McDonald’s CACOON and Roger Morris’s JOLLY ROGER. Sailing Photo credits- Tony Howe For more J/24 UK sailing information
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