Nineteen of the eighty 420s sailing at Flanders Youth Regatta in Belgium were representing GBR. The 5 day regatta attracted sailors from France, Great Britain, Holland, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, Austria and of course Belgium.

No sailing on the Saturday frustrated the competitors as there seemed to be near perfect but windy conditions. The forecast force 7 and 8 never materialised in Nieuwpoort but in other parts of Belgium and the UK twisters and flooding occurred from thunderclouds, so maybe the organisers were right to be cautious.

Racing therefore started on Sunday morning with 3 races in the day’s schedule. The wind had dropped to almost nothing. In true 420 fashion every start took 3 or 4 attempts to get going with the race officer having to resort to black flags as the strong tide played a significant part. The French looked good with Arnaud Seite/Phillipe Guenegan taking the first two races. From GBR, Rob Watson/Mark Ellis managed a 2^nd in the first race and Jon Noonan/James Holmes started strongly with a 4^th. Simon Grundy/Chris Dodds also did well with 8^th in both the first two races. In the third race, a huge pile up at the downwind mark of about half the fleet caused utter chaos with many boats being held up for what seemed an eternity. Alex Cherry/Ollie Hawkley managed to keep clear of the trouble and were 4^th with Mark Rhodes/Nick Hutton getting 6^th.

Light winds still prevailed on the third day but Matt Gill/Martin Harrison were to have their best result of the week with a 3^rd in the first race of the day. Consistency was proving difficult, the French were always in the front bunch but most of them were also carrying bad results. Most consistent British at this stage were Paul Campbell-James/Tom Hutchinson but Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes/Daniel Allen’s new partnership seemed to be looking promising after a third in the 2^nd race. After three false attempts, the last race of the day was abandoned when the race officer decided it was impossible to set a fair start.

The sailors had yet to get out on the trapeze and the next day was no different. The tide was still making life difficult. The next 2 races were bad for the British with only Rob Watson/Mark Ellis getting a 6^th in the first race and no British in the top 20 of the next race. Things were to get better though as the sea breeze at last kicked in and whilst gentle, it was at least steadier. Paul Campbell-James/Tom Hutchinson produced the best British result of the week after a better start they reached the windward mark in the front and fought of a fierce challenge from the overall leader to win the race. Clare Medhurst/Katie Graves were also in the leading bunch only to be rolled badly on the last reach.

The last day came and the Belgians really tried hard to run 2 races but it was not possible within the time limits.

This page was last updated on 02-Aug-1999 18:05. 420 UK Webmaster, Mike Greenland, [email protected]