Weymouth: August 30-31 2003
Forty eight teams contested the first selection meeting for the International 420 class teams for the World Championships. This is being held in Melbourne in January 2004 meaning that a special set of selectors has had to be arranged. Thank you to Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy who have been able to fit in the programmed 3 weekends of racing. Over this first weekend 8 races were held in Portland Harbour, with winds of between 6 and 12 knots. The girls showed how this weather should be managed, with Lucy and Nicky MacGregor winning from Charlotte Savage/Harriette Trumble and Alison Martin/Bethan Carden. Dave Evans and Ian Haywood in 4th place were the leading boys from Luke Patience/Adam Wagner and Callum MacDonald/Stuart Bithell. The conditions were very different from those at the recent championships but generally the same teams were at the front, although there were some crew changes necessary to make the January trip possible. Also there were a number of teams new to the class who found the light and medium weather a very good introduction to their 420 sailing.
Race 1 was delayed while the wind switched from north east to south west. After one false start and then a black flag Nathan Batchelor and Joe Crabb went to the right and led from start to finish. Laura Wade and Paul Davies hung on to second. Race two was similar, but this time the girls set the pace with the Macgregor, Savage and Trumble and Martin and Carden pulling well clear of the rest of the fleet. Race 3 was a go hard right race. A big shift with an increase of wind to 12 knots on the first beat put Patience and Wagner well ahead at the first mark. Oliver Dix and Oliver Gray managed to drive past newcomers Edward Powys and Will Morgan for second place. Race 4 looked like it would be a repeat of race 1 with Batchelor and Crabb leading at the first mark from Savage and Trumble and Martin and Carden. But Martin and Carden were able to work through and snatched first place within yards of the finish line.
Competitors arrived in the dinghy park on Sunday to find a light north easterly breeze. Despite the Race Officer�s intention to get a race in before the sea breeze arrived he was forced to delay After an hour or so the wind settled in to the west again and the full programme of races was run.� For race 5 right on the first beat was good again. And again Batchelor and Crabb led from start to finish. Behind then was a hard fought bunch from which Fynn Sterritt and Matt Day escaped at the last mark in 2nd place just ahead of Chris Witty and Richard Mills. The Macgregors won race 6 escaped comfortably. Dix and Gray took 5 places at the end of the final run to grab second place ahead of MacDonald and Bithell.. Soon after race 7 started there was a port shift making left pay. The Macgregors led at the first mark from Martin and Carden but were unable to stay ahead. In Race 8 Savage and Trumble pulled out a long lead. The Macgregors maintained their form by staying in second place ahead of Tom Makey and James Wade.
In the light and moderate breezes it was very difficult for teams to be consistent. A large number of teams had a few good results, but particularly for the boys it was consistency and the ability not to be caught on the wrong end of wind shifts which got the best series results. The next two selection meetings are September 6/7 and 13/14, both at WPSA.