Online entry is now open for the End of Season Championships at Grafham on 24th/25th November 2012. Please get your entries in early as it will help us with planning. The club are happy for you to leave boats after the Class training on 10/11th November 2012.

Beautiful, clear sunny day with good winds at Weymouth and very exciting semis � one taken to 4 matches and the second to 5 � really close!
Nick Wilkinson, Phil Sparks and Sam Goodchild (�66/33� Bristol Uni) are the Under 25 National Youth Match Racing Champions 2012. Mark Lees, with Tom Forrester-Coles and Annabel Vose took 2nd, Solent� Uni�s Phil Bendon 3rd and Durham�s Ed Harrison 4th, Simon Kitchen 5th and Dan Wray 6th.

The RYA U21 and U25 Match Racing Championships are underway off the Nothe at Weymouth after a day�s training yesterday. Following Saturday�s Round Robin, Nick Wilkinson�s (Bristol Uni) team, including former 420 Champ, Phil Sparks, leads with 100% wins. Previous U21 Youth MR Champion and 420 sailor, Mark Lees, with our Annabel Vose aboard, is running 2nd, with 5/6 wins. Other 420 sailors spotted are Dan Wray (Plymouth Uni) running 5th and Simon Kitchen, 6th.
For the second year running, there are no current 420 sailors, where once almost all the under-21 competition was dominated by the 420 Class. David Campbell James, 420 doyen, is organising a number of individual Winter Match Racing Weekends for Youth, Women�s and University teams, in the Elliots at WPNSA. See Announcement.

Stone SC have organised some 420 training on Sat 13th October 2012. If you would like to join in please contact Duncan Ayre for details. See event calender for contact details.

Ben Saxton and Alan Roberts, representing the RS200 class, became the new Endeavour dinghy champion of champions. As well as Ben there were a number of other ex420 sailors taking part including Luke Patience, Stuart Bithall and Christian Birrell, and one current 420 sailor James Taylor. and all achieved good results. Just goes to show that 420 sailors can turn their hand to sailing all sorts of other classes of boat.

The Class had a great weekends racing at Burton Sailing Club which hosted the 2012 Inland Championships. With a great performance the title was won by Callum Airlie and Joe Butterworth. See Final Results. Our thanks to Burton for the great hospitality and to our sponsors LDC Racing and CurraDinghy for the prizes. A full report can be found in Yachts and Yachting along with a great video by Jonny McGovern. Click on the title. Photos taken by Philip Alton are in the Photo Gallery.

See also report on Sail-World with several photos.

The Inlands are underway with 34 entries. Follow progress on the event micro-site, via the title link.

Well done to James Taylor and Tom Lovesey on winning the 2012 Lymington Youth regatta. Report attached and photos by Graham Wallis can be found on the facebook page.

Chris Taylor took to the helm of a J80 at the weekend supported by Annabel Vose, Toby Morsley, Pete Alton and Tim Gratton and gave the J80 fleet a run for their money, coming in 4th overall.

Mike Riley was also spotted out on the water on a rare occasion when he actually got a chance to sail himself coming in 9th overall.

Full report attached.

Please note that the new membership year commenced on 1 September 2012. Unless you took out a new membership or renewed early to take part in the Nationals in August 2012 your membership needs to be renewed for you to be eligible to take part in the Inlands on 29/30 September 2012. Online membership is available via the links on the left hand side of the page.

Online entry now open. To help planning please get your entries in as soon as possible.

Let's make it a great 420 turnout for the Royal Lymington Youth Regatta. Training on Saturday, racing on Sunday with great prizes. Let Cherie know if you are going. See event page or Facebook page for details.

The morning after the Black Tie Dinner dawned and we were greeted with drizzle and 12-13 knots of breeze but with more forecast later. The older departing youth squad sailors were feeling a bit the worse for wear and tried to give themselves more recovery time by hiding the tally board but their attempts failed and the fleet launched for a nearly on time start! See more via title link.....

As activity commenced on the harbour wall, the committee enjoyed a fine cup of coffee and a very nice bacon roll with various sailing dogs joining in the bacon butties!! After a one hour postponement the fleet gathered on the slipway with palpable excitement in a growing breeze. Racing got underway at 12.30pm and in the tricky conditions the first race saw victory for Neil and Kirsty, with Scott Wallis and Josh Voller in 2nd and James Taylor and Tom Lovesey in 3rd.

The 2nd race of the day got underway after a general recall and the race was won again by Neil and Kirsty who were now counting their 6th bullet of the week. Annabel and Ed chased Neil to the line with Tom Pain and Matt Wallis in 3rd.

In the 3rd race of the day Craig Dibb and brithday boy Charlie Cox crossed the line 1st beating Neil and Kirsty into 2nd and Annabel and Ed were 3rd.

The final day of racing will determine who becomes National champion so let's hope the forecast high winds do not mean the sailors can't hit the water. Watch this space.......

Five weekends of Match Racing training and competition are open to Youth, Women�s and University teams, with coaches and a full umpire team at all the events, are to be held this winter at WPNSA and Portland House, using the RYA�s six Elliott 6m boats. See RYAs Programme Announcement, Notice of Race and Entry Form and, for further information, the RYA website.

Hot on the heels of the Noah's Ark party, London Zoo felt the need to do a full inventory today. They found that two ladybirds were missing but they were found on the 420 race course safe and well! Launching on time was a challenge as the harbour turned into a building site but all got onto the water without incident. The first race saw 8-10 knots of breeze and flat water. It was won by Annabel and Ed, closely followed by Neil and Kirsty in 2nd and Nataha Law and Sophie Ainsworth in 3rd. The ladybirds came in 8th!

Race 2 followed with another win for Ed and Annabel, with Hugo Sloper and James Dodd in 2nd and Craig and Charlie in 3rd. By the time race 3 started the wind had built and some waves were developing. As the fleet got to mark 1 the oscar flag made its first appearance of the day and the fleet headed off at speed on the reach and downwind leg. The race was won by Craig and Charlie, followed by Tom Pain and Matt Wallis and Callum Airlie and Joe Butterworth in 3rd.

Overall Neil and Kirsty are again holding an overnight lead. The ladybirds have now flown home and we will see who arrives on the race course tomorrow.

Today the 420 fleet enjoyed champagne sailing in Torbay. After a grey start to the day and a 2 hour postponement (and several bacon butties) the breeze built and the fleet got away for race 4 of the championships in 8-10 knots. Proving that age is no barrier to success in the Class, Neil Marsden was dragged around the course by his crew Kirsty Urwin to claim a bullet, followed by Annabel Vose and Ed Riley, with Callum Airlie and Joe Butterworth 3rd. Race 5 saw a building breeze and the appearance of the O flag for the first time in the championships. Yet again, Neil and Kirsty triumphed, this time with Craig Dibb and Charlie Cox in 2nd and Hugo Sloper and James Dodd in 3rd.

For race 6 the breeze had built further peaking at nearly 19 knots and the course was lengthened. Heading right off the line paid, as Tim Gratton and Chris Taylor found, and they were leading by mark 1 from Issy Fitzgerald and Kat Colvin. The race saw plentiful capsizes and some high speed sailing, but the leaders managed to stay in front and take the bullet with Issy and Kat close behind with Annabel and Ed in 3rd.

Tonight is the Noah's Ark party. Hopefully some photos to follow.

The GBR Nationals are now in full swing - the title link will offer the running results. The blog from the race office is on the event site, and there may be tweets from on-the-water.

Congratulations to Annabel and Kirsty on winning the Ladies title at the Junior European championships held on Lake Garda last week. This follows their bronze medal at the ISAF Youth Worlds a few weeks ago. Well done to all the teams taking part. Full results available via the title link.

Jonny has produced another great video of clips from the World Championships held in Austria. Click on the title link to view.

Good luck to the teams taking part in the 420 Junior Europeans in Lake Garda.

Follow the blog and results via the title link. Reports from the team will be on the Facebook page linked at the top of the page.

While we await action in Riva del Garda, Luke Patience (National 420 Champ 2003) and Stu Bithell (420 Bronze Medallist at 2004 ISAF Youths with Jonny McGovern) and Hannah Mills (Ladies 420 World Ladies Champion and Junior Euros helm 2006) and Saskia Clark have won Silver medals at Weymouth.

Good luck to the GBR 420 teams at the Eurosafs which started on Monday 6th August in Aarhus, Denmark. Follow the news on the event website.

After a tough final two days with no racing on Day 5 and only one race on the final day, the world titles have been secured by Greece and Singapore. Team GB secured 6th place in both fleets. Harry Derbyshire and Tom Lovesey moved up to 6th with a 3rd in the final race and Craig Dibb and Charlie Cox were close behind in 8th overall. Jess Lavery and Georgie Mothersele were also 6th in the Ladies fleet (3rd Junior) with 3 of the top 4 places being taken by Singapore.

Full results and news can be found via the title link.

Good luck to those teams who now move on to compete at the Junior Europeans at Lake Garda.

The GBR 420 Class are very pleased to announce that the 2012 National Championships are sponsored by Curradinghy who will be providing prizes and a new Nationals Trophy "The Curradinghy Trophy". Other prizes are being provided by North Sails and Barclays Bank.

New sailors to the 420 fleet will have the chance to win the use of a Curradinghy 420 for a year FREE!! Watch the event website for details of T&Cs.; Neil Marsden has also donated a "Marsden" Jib to be presented to the winner of the practice race so you will have to race properly again this year!
Enter here

Jessica Lavery & Georgie Mothersele are holding with their peers tonight. The top five Ladies, following five races and a discard, are all experienced, leading 420 women. Overall winning helm at this year�s Kieler Woche, Nadja Horwitz (CHI) is back with her �senior� crew (3rd together at the 2011 Worlds) and leading after five races at Neusiedler. Griselda King (Bronze at the 2009 ISAFs with Cecilia Low) joins fellow SINner, Rachel Lee (now sailing with Cecilia) in the top five, together with Jennifer Poret & Louise Chevet (FRA) (Silver at last year�s Euros).

Jessica & Georgie (8th 2011Euros, 9th 2011 ISAFs and fresh from leading the women at the French Coupe Nationale) have maintained their position from Day 1 and held off several teams of similar experience, whilst scoring a bullet in the second race. News from Neusiedler shows the challenging sailing conditions and the team�s blog is appearing on the Facebook and Twitter feeds.

As with the Ladies Fleet, there are some very experienced teams here. Alexandros & Georgios Kavvas (GRE), David & Alex Charles (ESP) and Guillaume Pirouelle & Valentin Sipan (FRA), in particular, have significant form. The Kavvas were Silver winners at the 2010 and 2011 Junior Europeans. The Charles were 2nd at this year�s Kieler Woche, before taking Gold at the ISAF Youths, while the French team took Gold at the 2011 Junior Europeans and Silvered at this year�s ISAFs, having been a couple of points short of the podium in 2011.

Today saw significant gains by GBR in the Open Fleet. Harry Derbyshire & Tom Lovesey rose eight places since yesterday, Tim & Ed Riley are up seven to 11 and Toby Morsley & Matt Wallis up three to 12th. With a bullet in Race 4. In the conditions, all this must have taken some skilful sailing by our guys. Let�s hope they get their 6th race in tomorrow, or, if not, get an early postponement to the lay day � either way GBR looks set up for the Final Series.

See Penny Clark�s Day 3 preview

Good luck to the team. Follow the events progress on the event website via the title link or keep up with the teams news on the Class facebook page.

There are a number of commttee members standing down at the AGM on 20th August 2012 so if you want to help please contact Jackie Taylor via the contact links. See attached for all committee positions.

....and she continues to plug her man live on BBC TV during day 1 racing at Weymouth. woop!

The visiting GBR 420's had a gerat time at the French Nationals in Trebeurden. The RYA sent Jonny McGovern and Roy McCubbin to coach the Transition squad sailors who went and they supported all the GBR 420 sailors on the water. Read more in the attached Y&Y; report and watch Jonny's latest video.

Follow the news on the attache title link. Vose anf Urwin lead after day 2 and Dibb and Cox 4th. Good luck for rest of the week.

Want some practice for the GBR Nationals? Entry is now open on the HYC website for the Irish 420 Nationals. Online entry is preferable. Early entry fees before 15th July @ �110 and rises to �130 thereafter.

A 3 day coaching programme prior to the event is also planned.

With 20 GBR 420's and 2 coaches it was hoped that there would be plenty of good sailing in Nieuwpoort. Read all about it in Yachts and Yachting via the title link.

At the half-way stage at the 470 Europeans in Largs, our Sophie Weguelin & Sophie Ainsworth scored three bullets and lead the women, while Ben Saxton & Richard Mason and Phil Sparks & David Kohler are running 2nd and 3rd in the Open. Seems David had a close encounter with a submarine.

With high winds bringing this year�s Schools Week to an early completion this morning, a six race series for the Gavin Anderson Plate and BSDRA finished at the Mind the Gap Year Itchenor Schools� with Abigail and Caroline Croft leading the 420 Class, with four bullets. Close on their heels were Rosie & Anna Watkins of Parkstone Grammar. Our new men from the London Nautical, Tadhg & Fionn O`Farrell took 4th. And recent 420 Fleet recruit, Helen Woodward crewed the eighth-placed leading Kings School Canterbury boat in the 19-boat 420 championship. See Final 420 Results and click above for the RS Feva champs held at the beginning of the week and for the Firefly fleet.

We hereby confirm notice of the 2012 GBR International 420 Class Association Annual General meeting to be held at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club on Monday August 20th at 6.00pm, or 45 minutes after returning ashore if after 5.30pm. The detailed agenda is attached. Please be aware that we have a number of committee members standing down this year including the Sailing Secretary and Safety Officer so if anyone is interested in joining the committee, in any capacity, please get in touch with any of the current committee via the contacts page. If sailors are interested in becoming sailor reps please get in touch with Caroline Croft, Harry Derbyshire or Charlie Cox.

When starting to sail a 420 sometimes the most difficult thing is finding someone to sail with or, maybe you have been sailing for a while but your pairing has broken up. If you cantact anyone on the committee via the website contacts page we may be able to help but we have now set up a facebook page where you can let other sailors know you are looking for someone to sail with. This is a closed Group so just request membership and let's see if we can get more of you sailing. Click on the title link to get to the new page or search on Facebook for 420 Partnership Finder.

Thinking of moving into Keel Boats? If any older 420 sailors are now interested in progressing to the RYA / UKSA Keelboat Academy, see the attached press release from the RYA (click the heading).

420 helm James Taylor returned to crewing a Feva over the Jubilee weekend, with Matt Whitfield at the helm for the Feva Nationals held in Torbay. After some close racing in very varied conditions Matt and James took the title on the last race. Robert Masterman and Marcus Payne were 2nd and Elliott Wells and Jake Todd in 3rd. Anna Prescott and Jess Eales were 1st girls in 4th place.

Congratulations to the team selected by the RYA to attend the 2012 Eurosaf Youth Championships in Denmark. The team is:

Alistair Gray and Alan McIntosh
Ben Hazledine and Rhos Hawes
Lucy Yeates and Ellie Devereux
Jemima Lawson and Lily Summers

Good luck to all. The event website can be found via the title link.

R Lym YC girls had a fantastic training day with Olympic 470 sailor and 420 Team Selector Christina Bassadone earlier this month, the weather was perfect for a full day on the water without the boys getting in the way!

A great chance to train at the venue at which we are holding the Nationals in August. The training will be in groups suitable for current 420 sailors but also for those who are thinking of transitioning to a Youth Class and want to try 420's. If you don't have a partner to sail with get in touch and we can try and help link up helms and crews. Charter boats are available at a reasonable price. If you have any queries contact Graham Dibb via the contact page.

Congratulations to Tim & Ed Riley on winning the Poole Open. A big thank you to Poole Yacht Club for putting on an excellent Open meeting with good racing for the sailors and good cakes for the shore base parents. The weather was kind with the wind building during Saturday to allow 4 good races to be run (although we could have done without the hail storm!). With 2 more races completed on Sunday, Tim & Ed won wih 5 bullets and discarding a 3rd! The top three were:

1 Tim & Ed Riley (5pts)
2 Scott Wallis & James Dodd (11 pts)
3 Morgan Dibb & Gemma Bird (19pts)