International 420 Class
Plymouth Selection Regatta
May 1-3� 2004
Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht club hosted the second and final selector for the 420 European and Junior Europeans teams. The weather varied over the weekend from light and shifty to a solid force 5 with sun, rain and fog thrown in to make a very difficult weekend for the race Management team. However they managed to keep all boats safe and complete seven races to achieve a good regatta and a satisfactory selection series, with all races ailed in the open water to the south of the main breakwater. Forty-nine boats travelled to the event. At times it seemed that the races were like a game of snakes and ladders with lots of snakes and very few ladders to redress the balance.� Alison Martin and Maia Walsh had the best weekend to win with a race to spare from Pippa Wilson and Harriette Trumble with Jonathan McGovern and Jonny Frazer in third place. In the team selection, including the results from Selector 1 at Largs in April, the order turned around a little with McGovern and Frazer heading the list ahead of Wilson and Trumble, Luke Patience and Adam Wagner and Martin and Walsh.
Race 1 on Saturday started with a shifty light easterly breeze. The race officer set a windward leeward course to make course changing manageable. Wilson and Trumble led at the first and managed to hold off determined challenges firstly from Martin and Walsh, then Lucy Macgregor and Niss Booth as the wind shifted to turn the final lap into a pair of reaches. In race 2 the wind picked up a little.� Tom Makey and James Wade started fast leading from Robbie Claridge and Jasmine Husband . But on the second beat it paid to go left.� Martin and Walsh slipped through to first followed by Patience and Wagner. The wind picked up again to 12 knots for race 3. McGovern and Frazer had a comfortable early lead from Nathan Batchelor and Joe Crabb. As the race progressed Martin and Walsh closed in on them but they were able to stay ahead on the final run.
Sunday�s early start to racing was thwarted by lack of wind. The rescue boats had to tow all the 420s out to the starting area. As soon as they were there the race officer got them away into a light south-easterly, but the wind soon dropped again and with a beat against the tide boats were unable to make the first mark in the required 30 minutes. For the second attempt the wind held in at around 4� knots. Martin and Walsh crept around the mark with 35 seconds to spare and then raced off to a good win from Claridge and Husband. Race 5 was then started with a good 8 knots of breeze. But as the fleet approached the windward mark a fog bank rolled in. With visibility of less than 50 metres the race was abandoned and the safety officer arranged marshalling and boat counting. When every body was fixed to ribs and no prospect of the fog lifting there was no choice but go ashore. The committee boat led the procession and in 20 minutes the club was found.
Fortunately Monday was better. It was raining but there was a good north-westerly breeze. Three races were sailed on a trapezoid course with different conditions in all of them. Race 5 threatened 18 knots but on the start dropped away to 12 knots.. Joanne Macdonald and Laurie Marsden led at the first mark from Macgregor and Booth. But on the run Martin and Walsh sailed around them. Mcdonald and Marsden� held on to second ahead of Macgregor and Booth. Race 6 looked as if it would be lighter but picked up in wind speed again. Wilson and Trumble opened out a good lead over Oliver Dix and Ross Harvey.� At the start of race 7 the wind suddenly increased to 18 knots with a port shift. Ian Dobson and Andrew Tunnicliffe picked up on this perfectly and raced away. MacDonald and Marsden pulled through to second ahead of Patience and Wagner.
Thank you to Royal Plymouth Corinthian for running the event.