Last weekend, the British 29er fleet travelled to the Mount Batten Center in Plymouth. The event in question, the much anticipated Typhoon Winter Championships. “The most hotly anticipated event on the calendar” said James Crossley in an interview posted on the @uk29erclassassociation Instagram page.
Saturday morning dawned cold and crisp with a stiff and gusty North Easterly breeze to be felt fluttering through the dinghy park. A briefing from the brilliant race management team set the scene for what was to be a very snazzy days’ racing. Boats were rigged, orange Typhoon bibs donned and the D flag raised.
After a few tuning runs and some guesses at which tactic was going to work, the fleet were prepared for the preparatory signal.
Race 1 saw the fleets’ heavy wind specialists, Finn and Oscar, show everyone else that having a few more kilos tends to pay off when the breeze is on. Second place in the race went to James and Noah, surely they have had enough of coming 2nd by now!
It turns out they had! They dominated the fleet in the next 3 races with bullets all round. Unfortunately, for Finn and Oscar, it turned out they were a bit too big and strong for their trapeze wires, leading to a breakage and subsequent capsize (it wouldn’t be a proper day’s sailing if they didn’t swim at least once). Elsewhere, girls team Annabelle and Maddie showed the boys how it’s done with a 2nd in race 2 and Santi and Kuba came in with a 2nd in race 3. Results aside, there were lots of grins along with some slightly scared faces at times, as well as lots of shakas of course! It was a day of big gusts, big gains to be had and big sends.
After days like those, most crews (and some helms) would like to have a long shower, get into bed, and sleep. BUT NO! There was a social to be had. Some exquisite lasagne and very popular garlic bread was much needed by all sailors. This was followed by general chat about various topics including the race course, counting to 21, and the economy. All whilst bearing in mind that the next day had an identical forecast so was going to be another big one!
Day 2 started with breakfast at the club for many. The bacon was very sought after by all accounts. After fuelling up, the sailors headed to the dinghy park to put tension on and hoist the flappies. After that it was a swift launch and a downwind blast to the race course.
The conditions looked very similar, if not slightly more wind which meant even more “SPEED AND POWER” to quote Jeremy Clarkson.
The results were more mixed than the first day with James and Noah not following their perfect record from the previous 3 races. Instead, Finn and Oscar put in a performance scoring 2 bullets and a 2nd. Charlie and Sam practiced their counting down with a 4, 3, 2, 1. Jamie² also put in a good first 2 races with a 2nd followed by a bullet.
After a big day, the teams struggled back upwind to the beach with much longer arms than they had at the start of the weekend. All were safe in the knowledge that they would have plenty of time to recover in the Monday morning maths lessons that loomed.
The overall results were tight with just 4 points separating the top 3. James and Noah’s exceptional day 1 meant they took their first win of the season, well done boys! Finn and Oscar put in a solid performance to come 2nd whilst Charlie and Sam took the 3rd place (which means I had to write the event report!! Quel horreur). First girls went to Typhoon ambassadors Annabelle and Maddie.
The prize giving, sponsored by Typhoon (THANK YOU!!), was a perfect way to round off the weekend before sailors headed back home, albeit further for some than others. Many of the athletes were spotted in various MacDonalds around the country trying to replace the thousands of calories they had burnt over the weekend.