(Parkstone, England)- The fun-loving crews in the J/24 class in
southwest England continue to have a great time, welcoming “newbies”
amongst the veterans like they were long-lost friends from years ago.
Nowhere was that more evident than this year’s Autumn Cup hosted by the
cozy, warm confines of the Parkstone YC in the “south” of England. As
usual, the Parkstone members welcomed J/24 sailors with open arms as one
might expect from a decades long family reunion. A dozen J/24 crews
from across the southern parts of the U.K. answered the call to having
fun at PYC. Herewith the report from the folks down yonder…“Saturday brought a light south-westerly breeze with four races being sailed out of a scheduled five. Apart from race one, won by Roger Morris' JOLLY ROGER, Nick Philips and his team on CHAOTIC could not put a foot wrong, winning the remaining three races of the day, with the rest of the fleet having a mixed day.
JOLLY ROGER was the overnight leader before the discard kicked in. Sunday morning's start of race five at 09.30 saw most of the fleet changing to jibs minutes before the start as the breeze built - only for a number of the fleet to do a headsail change back to genoas on the first downwind leg.
Duncan McCarthy on MADELEINE was first to finish, only to find out that they had been disqualified by the 'U' Flag Rule, within one minute of the start (along with TEAM IMPACT and FLYING COLOURS), thus handing the lead to Nick McDonald's CACOON.
Race six and all the fleet were back on genoas with Mark Lewers' HIJINKS quick out of the blocks - finding the left hand side of the beat to be favored and never challenged once they reached the windward mark of lap one.
Race seven was won by MADELEINE and Race eight by Andy Taylor's PHOENIX. However, consistency paid and the CHAOTIC team are worthy winners of this year's Autumn Cup.
Of note is the ever-improving youth team on TEAM IMPACT that regularly pushed at the top of the fleet, perhaps not surprising with the Kuzyk brothers on board- past Topper World, European and National Champions. Also, Jack Butters, ex-Spitfire National Champion was sailing with his brothers Pete and Steve, and their father Dave on CRACKERJACK.
At the prize giving, CHAOTIC’S Nick Phillips thanked the race officer, Bryan Drake, and his team for an excellent regatta, managing to get in all eight races in what were sometimes tricky conditions.
Rounding out the top five were Andy Taylor’s PHOENIX in 2nd, Duncan McCarthy’s MADELEINE 3rd, Roger Morris’ JOLLY ROGER 4th, and George Kennedy’s TEAM IMPACT 5th. For more British J/24 Class sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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