This weekend saw the F18 National Championships held at Whitstable Yacht Club, it was a fantastic event “the best nationals for a long while, well done to Whitstable” was heard at the prize giving after the last 3 days had given fruit to all conditions + excellent close racing.
Team Boskalis sailors Hugh Styles + Chris Rashley sailing a NACRA Infusion dominated the regatta from start to finish counting 5 firsts and a 2nd place, this is the 5th National Championship win in the F18 class for Styles. At Whitstable 2nd place overall went to John Worthington and Seb Gruber who were very impressive in the breeze, in another NACRA Infusion and in 3rd Matt Humphries and Luke Yates.
This year the Formula 18 class had the best turn out at one of its National championships ever, this is down to the good balance which exists within the class between good testing racing at break neck speeds and good fun social banter off the water. Its amazing to see the success of the class, even in the UK where catamaran sailing is the poor relation to the dinghy sailing, popularity is building and this is mirrored internationally, with the recently held worlds in France which had a limited entry of 160 teams competed for the title, and the top 20 of this looking like a who’s who of Olympic Tornado teams of recent years.
To the regatta, Friday and Saturday provided champagne sailing in fresh winds and sunny skies, and racing on the tidal waters of the Thames estuary teams had to make tough lay line calls both up and down wind. Three races on the Friday and race one saw some really close racing between Styles and Rashley and Rob Wilson and Marcus Lynch, this was won by Styles and Rashley. The second race was very open, and then disaster stuck for Wilson as he broke his mast, ending his regatta. Race two was won by Worthington and Gruber, with David White and John Sweet a good second and Styles and Rashley third. Race three in more wind saw Styles and Rashley dominate from the front, with White and Sweet solid in second.
Saturday dawned even windier but with a cloudy sky, Stuart Gummer with Ryan Crawford lead the first lap of race 4, but were overhauled by Styles and Rashley who kept to the left side of the upwind on the second beat. The fifth race of the day in ever more increasing wind was blessed by sunshine, and a battle royal between Styles and Rashley and Worthigton and Gruber, the former lead for the first lap, to be overtaken on the downwind as Worthington powered through the chop, the teams were close again at the top but Worthington sailed another blistering downwind to take the winning gun. The last race of the day was cancelled due to too much wind, but with 4 races scheduled for the Sunday.
Sunday started with a SW 10 knots which died through the race and had Styles & Rashley tussling with Humphries & Yates, with Adam Piggott & Lewis Crawford third, and this is how I ended. As the wind died on the last leg it swung west 60 degrees and this turned the fleet inside out after the top 5 finished.
The wind disappeared and swung through 360 degrees until just before 1400 hrs when a SW breeze came in and the last race got away in 9 knots Styles and Rashley fought it out on the first lap, with Gummer and Crawford pushing hard, but this was not enough to hold off Styles and Rashley who managed to overhaul them and in doing so winning the Boskalis team the national title for the fifth time in 6 years for Styles.
Many thanks to Whitstable yacht club for their amazing hospitality, to Stuart Offer for the good race officering. Now the focus will be for the Forts race at Whitstable in 2 weekends time, then the F18 Inlands on the 16/17 Oct before the final event of the season the NACRA Nationals which will be at the Weston Cat open on the 6/7 November.
As ever nothing would be able to be achieved without the great support from the many sponsors family and friends so many thanks to:
Time on the Water
Boskalis
Nacra Europe
Towergate Mardon
Magic Marine
Marlow Ropes
Tactick

At 1400 local time, Monday 23rd August, ICAP Leopard, the record breaking British 100ft supermaxi will begin the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race. ICAP Leopard, owned by Helical Bar plc Chief Executive Mike Slade, will look to break the current RORC race record of seven days, four hours, 29 minutes and 40 seconds set by IMOCA 60, Artemis Ocean Racing in 2006.
ICAP Leopard’s crew will be made up of the usual collection of established ocean racers, including leading solo round the world sailor Sam Davies, who currently holds the monohull course record of six days, 11 hours, 30 minutes and 53 seconds. Sam broke the course record with fellow round the world sailor Dee Caffari aboard the IMOCA 60 Aviva in 2009. This year sees a highly competitive fleet, including Telefonica Azu’s VO70 and the IMOCA 60 Artemis Ocean Racing, meaning the crew will need to push the boat hard to ensure line honours.
Mike Slade, commented: “Once again we have a great team onboard for this classic offshore race. Sailing around Britain and Ireland produces some of the most complex weather systems in the northern hemisphere, so we’ll have to be on our toes to ensure we give ourselves a chance at beating the record.”
Sam Davies, revered round the world sailor, said: “As current course record holder and having sailed the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland Race a number of times before, I cannot wait to get started. The nature of sailing around an island means that the weather systems are not consistent in direction and therefore produce very changeable weather. This makes it all the more challenging and one of the most interesting offshore races around.”
Starting on the Royal Yacht Squadron line in the Solent, ICAP Leopard will head out of the Solent and along the South Coast, past Bishop Rock before heading north into the Celtic Sea. Leaving Ireland to starboard, the journey will then see the boat begin a 230 mile open water leg past St Kilda and the Flannan Isles. Through changeable and challenging weather conditions, the boat will continue around the Outer Hebridies, past Muckle Flugga and then down the East of the Britain. Having dodged the busy shipping lanes and oil rigs in the North Sea, the crew will undertake a final push past Dover finishing at the Royal Yacht Squadron line.
Following the success of the virtual Rolex Fastnet Race, Virtual Skipper is giving sailing fans the opportunity to race the Sevenstar Round Britain and Ireland course against ICAP Leopard virtually. With 10,000 people from around the world having already registered, a fun and competitive race is guaranteed. For more information and to register please visit:

http://www.leopard3.com  and follow the link to the Round Great Britain & Ireland Race pages.

Sandia Team GBR and the FFV (French) are both supplied with Marlow Ropes. The team recieve the very latest in rope technoledgy and also help develope new products ensuring that dinghy sailors around the world can use the best onboard their own boats.

Australia went home laden with gold after an astonishing week of racing in Weymouth Bay - the 2010 Olympic venue. The Aussies picked up gold in four classes; Nicky Souter, Nina Curtis and Olivia Price in the Women's Match Racing, the Skud-18 was won by Daniel Fitzgibbon and Rachael Cox on Friday, Tom Slingsby took gold in the Laser Men, and Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen made up the top quartet with a win in the 49er class.

The French team pushed Australia all the way, with three gold medals - Pierre Leboucher and Vincent Garos won the 470 Men, Charline Picon took gold home in the RS:X Women, and in the 2.4mR, it was Damien Seguin who did the business for France. The Dutch team then edged the home nation out of the gold medal table with wins in two classes, Marit Bouwmeester in the Laser Radial and Udo Hessels, Marcel van de Veen and Mischa Rossen in the Sonar. While Team Skandia GBR were left with a single gold, which was Giles Scott in the Finn. The consolation for the most successful Olympic sailing nation of the last three Olympiads was a hatful of silver and bronze - two silver and four bronze.

The venue, Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is the 2012 Olympic venue and it threw everything at the competitors this week - saving the best for last, with a medal race day that was the best of the British summer; wind, rain, calms and even a little sunshine right at the end. The huge entry of 975 sailors from 57 nations spread across 712 boats in 13 classes will go home having learned to expect the unexpected in August 2012.

470 Men
Gold - Leboucher and Garos, FRA, 31 points
Silver Belcher and Page, AUS, 35
Bronze Patience and Bithell, GBR, 58

470 Women
Gold - Kondo and Tabata, JPN, 74
Silver Pacheco and Betanzos, ESP, 91
Bronze Maxwell and Kinsolving, USA, 91

49er
Gold - Outteridge and Jensen, AUS, 65
Silver - Kruger Andersen and Thorsell, DEN, 82
Bronze Morrison and Rhodes, GBR, 84

Finn
Gold - Scott, GBR, 60
Silver - Lobert, FRA, 63
Bronze - Kljakovic Gaspic, CRO, 66

Laser
Gold - Slingsby, AUS, 62
Silver - Goodison, GBR, 74
Bronze - Leigh, CAN, 93

Laser Radial
Gold - Bouwmeester, NED, 40
Silver - Multala, FIN, 43
Bronze - Winther, NZL, 46

RS:X Men's
Gold - Rodrigues, POR, 38
Silver - Van Rijsselberge, NED, 42
Bronze - Dempsey, GBR, 43

RS:X Women
Gold - Picon, FRA, 44
Silver - Manchon, ESP, 50
Bronze - Shaw, GBR, 63

Star
Gold - O'Leary and Kleen, IRE, 52
Silver - Loof and Tillander, SWE, 61
Bronze - Kusznierewicz and Zycki, POL, 65

Women's Match Racing
Gold - - Souter, Curtis and Price, AUS
Silver - - Leroy, Bertrand and Riou, FRA
Bronze - - Tunicliffe, Vandemer and Capozzi, USA

2.4mR
Gold - Seguin, FRA, 12
Silver - Schmitter, NED, 13
Bronze - Kol, NED, 27

Skud-18
Gold - Fitzgibbon and Cox, AUS, 11
Silver - Rickham and Birrell, GBR, 14.7
Bronze - McRoberts and Hopkin, CAN, 26

Sonar
Gold - Hessels, Rossen and Van de Veen, NED, 21
Silver - Robertson, Stodel and Thomas, GBR, 26
Bronze - Cohen, Vexler and Efrati, ISR, 27

www.skandiasailforgoldregatta.co.uk