(Poole, England)- The J/24 Spring Cup, hosted by Parkstone Yacht Club,
is the first regatta of the season and a great opportunity to catch up
with other J/24 sailors, both on and off the water, since the last
regatta in October. With two major European Regattas over the coming
year, the scene was set for two days of competitive sailing as we
re-acquainted ourselves with windward-leeward courses. Poole gave us
near perfect conditions, with a fair breeze and sunshine for our first
day.The first race saw conditions of 20 knots plus and the whole fleet on jib; the race committee gave us a great first course despite shifty conditions. Whilst we raced closely, there were some familiar names in the leader board, taking the right lifts and spotting the right side of the course. By the end of Race 2 the inconsistent breeze had most of us thinking that we could change up to Genoa but it wasn't until the start of Race 3, when the wind dropped that teams knew a mid race, downwind sail change could be the difference between a top placing and a mid fleet finish. MADELEINE’s start in Race 3 was hampered by the tide, however, skipper Duncan McCarthy not only performed a flawless sail change but also sailed through the fleet to finish first.
Dominica Lindsey, new to J/24 helming on her boat PHOENIX, sailed a great regatta with an impressive 3rd in the 3rd race. William Lack is admired for his tireless enthusiasm encouraging the youth sailors on VINYL SOLUTIONS. Simon Lack sailed an impressive Race 5 and came a close 3rd to two of the fleet’s top helms. Whilst it was clear that both Roger Morris’ JOLLY ROGER and Andy Taylor’s HITCH HIKER are still in a 'developmental phase', they gave a flash of their potential, each with 1st place finish by the end of the regatta.
Everyone agreed the conditions were incredibly changeable, which led to some tough calls on which side of the course was favored. However, the leader board showed that our top crews consistently made the right calls over the 6 races. Congratulations to McCarthy’s crew on MADELEINE (Steve Phelps, Spencer Whitworth, Hannah McCarthy & Charlie Fisher) for their simply brilliant performance with a 1-2-1-1-2-4 scorecard and just 7 pts net. They fought a closely-matched series of races against Matt Hardy’s CHAOTIC crew (Hugh Styles, Tom Montgomery, Joanna Bainbridge, & Ian Henry) that collected a 2-1-2-3-6-2 tally for 10 pts net. Lying third on the podium was Roger Morris’ team on JOLLY ROGER (Paul William, John Sparrow, David Sparrow & Nina Squire), improving every race (literally) to post 9-6-4-2-1-6 scores for 19 pts.
A hearty “Thanks” to the Race Committee for a great weekend racing and Parkstone YC for hosting the hungry sailors and providing delicious food and cold beer! A special mention too, to local Mark Bennett’s “Patisserie” for consistently brilliant, yummy sandwiches! For more UK J/24 Spring Cup sailing information
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