In spite of the forecast light winds, there was a great turnout of 53 Supernovas at Grafham SC for the Supernova Nationals. Unfortunately, the forecast was spot-on.

A general recall in the first race left the fleet battling through the dirty wind of Lightnings and Bytes to the finish. We only had ourselves to blame for that! Rye led from the start in his first Supernova Nationals event, finishing comfortably ahead of Hollier in 2nd. Gibson and S.Hawley had a battle for 3rd and 4th, with Gibson eventually coming out on top. Flitcroft (5th) just managed to maintain a half boat length lead on Wild (6 th), closely followed by Critchley in 7th.

Hollier led the second race from the start. Further back, there were numerous place-changes. Gibson crossed the line 2nd, Halstead 3rd, and Rye moved through the fleet to 4 th, making full use of the stronger winds at the left hand side of the beat. Although the wind strength was reducing, Stevens found some terrific boat speed on the penultimate reach, storming up to windward of the boats in front, then getting on the inside at the mark to finish 5th, beating Moodie (6th).

As the dying wind shifted, the OOD was forced to move all of the marks in an attempt to get the best out of the trapezoidal course. The fleet split at the start, with most boats at the pin end staying on starboard, and those at the committee boat end tacking onto port. The shifts favoured the few who tacked onto port from the pin end. Flitcroft was first to the windward mark, followed by Coleman, Ingram and Jones. Coleman pulled ahead on the reach, but lost out again to Flitcroft on the run. By the end of the 3 long laps, Flitcroft had pulled away further to win by a good margin, with Coleman easily holding on to 2nd. Subsequent boats were closer together. Jones moved into 3rd early in the race, and maintained his lead on Moodie (4th). Ingram stayed close to the leaders to finish 5th, and Hollier moved up through the fleet to finish 6th.

After day 1, Hollier had a 5 point lead on Flitcroft in 2nd, with Rye one point behind in 3rd. Gibson and Coleman were only 1 point behind Rye in 4th & 5th, and Halstead was in 6th. Hopefully, everyone at the club and throughout West Perry enjoyed the evening’s entertainment ! The “Northern Lights” from Bolton won the bar quiz, but birthday girl Marrion’s “sailorgram” never turned up.

Sunday dawned bright, if not breezy. After a 3-hour postponement, a light, patchy, shifty wind reluctantly and slowly crept across the water from the dam. Consequently, in the 4th race of the event, there were significant changes of place amongst the fleet as the breeze came and went. Stevens proved that he’s got the hang of his new boat by crossing the line 1st, Hollier a consistent 2nd, Gibson 3rd, Rye 4th, Coleman 5th, and Halstead 6th.

In the last race, S.Hawley led on the first lap. But close on his heels was last year’s National Champion, Tony Wild who, on the second beat, sneaked past Hawley to the front of the fleet for the first time that weekend. Hawley fought back valiantly, particularly on the runs, but had to settle for 2nd place. As the rest of the fleet struggled with the shifts, Hollier moved up into 3rd, Rye 4th, Boneham 5th, and Giles slipped back to 6th.

Full Results

Results

Ladies

Top Club (best 4 helms)

Grand Masters Trophy (over 60)

Masters Trophy (over 50)

Endeavour Trophy

Novice Trophy