Supernova National Championships 2014 at Dovey Yacht Club - Overall

Extract from Yachts and Yachting (Paul Kelly):

The weekend of 4/5/6th July was one of the UK's sporting highlights of the year. Wimbledon Finals, Tour de France in the UK, and British GP. It was however the small beautiful seaside town of Aberdovey in mid Wales that saw arguably the best and closest of all UK sporting events that weekend. The Supernova National Championships.

The hosts Dovey Yacht Club's contribution was fantastic, a friendly welcome and always helpful. Their location was perfect for an event of this type. Great sailing waters enabled the fleet of 61 boats to sail within the estuary on the windy Friday, where many locations may have deemed it too rough. When the weather played ball the expanse of Cardigan Bay, just a short sail out of the estuary, was a fantastic place to play our sport in what must be some of the best scenary in the UK. Families were well catered for too with a sandy beech for the kids. Race officer Rupert Tildesly and his team did an excellent job of setting the 10 races with quick turn arounds, good courses and fast results production.

The final days racing consisted of three races out in the bay. With the top five still wide open it was still all to play for. The forecast was for around 10 knots, gradually building through the day. Again the sun shone giving fantastic conditions, with some great waves to play with.

The racing was delayed for an hour to allow the breeze to fill in from the west. Which for many was a welcome chance to clear heads from the social activities that comes with a Supernova championships. The Supernova is a class that is proud of its boat, close competitive sailing, but equally the friendliness and camaraderie of its class association.

Race 8

The pressure was really on the top five to get a result in this the first race of the day. So much so that top two Cliff Milliner & Mark Hartley, along with Gavin Young returned to the line. and then sailed off on port behind the majority of the fleet in search of some clear air.

This meant that some new names were seen at the top of the fleet at the first mark rounding. With Matt Williams of Cotswold in his first year of Supernova sailing rounding clear of Mike Gibson, followed closely by 15 year old Lewis Brailsford of Sutton in Ashfield SC (showing he is one to watch for the future). Then came Paul Kelly who was too focussed on a good mark rounding, that for the purposes of this report, he didn't note who was behind (apologies to who it was).

The following legs saw Mike Gibson take a good lead, with Tony Critchley following. Richard Pakes got his best result of the series in third, with the consistent Duncan Adams in fourth. Cliff Milliner recovered to take 5th. With Mark Hartley back in 7th.

This the 8th race was an above average result that the top two would both need to count in their series, it also made the series a two discard event. Cliff now had 13 pts to Mark's 19, Alex Collins had 22, Gavin Young 25.

Race 9

Saw the wind increasing slightly, varying between 10 and 15mph, producing more exciting racing in the building waves. There were big gains to be made up the beat with some fairly pronounced shifts. The line was very even and so the top end runners were at either end of the line. The boats starting at the starboard end of the line seemed to lift far more than the boats at the port end. At the first turn Mark Hartley took the lead closely followed by Tony Critchley, Mike Critchley, Cliff Milner and Gavin Young. By the first gybe mark it looked as if Mark Hartley had opened a comfortable lead to leave the Critchleys and Milliner to scrap it out, but by the leeward mark all four boats went around nose to tail. Hartley made a mistake and the Critchleys and Milliner went past. A long tactical beat saw Hartley re take the lead followed by Tony Critchley, Cliff Milliner and then Mike Critchley. The race finished this way making sure that the title would be decided on the last race.

Mark's victory in race 9 edged him closer. Cliff now had 16 points to Mark's 20, Alex had 28. Gavin's 12th in race 9 put him out of contention on 33 points.

Race 10

Started under similar conditions to race nine, again the line was very fair. Milliner and Young had a good start and half way up the beat on the starboard side of the course looked as if they were going to lead at the windward mark. They tacked onto starboard and were headed slightly favouring those on the port side which included Hartley, Flitcroft, Tony Critchley and Gibson. These came in from the port side to round the windward mark ahead. Hartley lead from Flitcroft and then Gibson followed by Critchley, Young and Milliner. There were many place changes among the top six with Alex Collins and Peter Mackin working hard to gain early lost ground to join the mix. Hartley finished first followed by Flitcroft, Young, Tony Critchley, Mike Gibson and then Millner. This made the results too tight to work out on the water and the sailors were made to wait for the prize giving for the results.

Congratulations to Mark for winning his third and probably hardest won Supernova National title.

  • The junior fleet was won by Alex Collins Bolton Sailing Club
  • 1st Silver was Peter Mackin (8th o/a) our newest sailor to the fleet Bolton SC
  • 1st Veteran was Steve Johnson of Cotswold SC
  • 1st Master was Mike Gibson ex national champion Bartley SC
  • First Mk1 was won by Gary Cawthorn of Attenborough SC
  • Top Club was Bolton SC, with Cotswold in Second.

Overall Results:

 

PosHelmClubSail NoR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8R9R10Pts
1Mark HartleyBlithfield ‑  Gold ‑ Standard110811261121071121
2Cliff MillinerCotswold S C ‑ Standard ‑ Gold10791063111253622
3Alex CollinsBolton S C ‑ Junior ‑ Gold10882712741366935
4Gavin YoungCotswold S C ‑ Standard ‑ Gold110448542551412336
5Duncan AdamsAttenborough S C ‑ Standard ‑ Gold111153411496481843
6Mike GibsonBartley S C ‑ Master ‑ Gold1047827812124111546
7Tony CritchleyBolton S C ‑ Master ‑ Gold10746212695112322451
8Peter MackinBolton S C ‑ Junior ‑ Silver111231062362812841056
9Richard PakesHaversham S C ‑ Master ‑ Gold6666513519157391462
10Mike CritchleyBolton S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver109422146212381225873
11Andy FlitcroftBolton S C ‑ Standard ‑ Gold1071131811793116262274
12Norman HalsteadRoadford Lake S C ‑ Master ‑ Gold106179922211431910778
13Paul UndrellHaversham S C ‑ Master ‑ Gold10601648201671611261189
14Paul EarnshawHaversham S C ‑ Master ‑ Gold103411626217106201271598
15Tim HandSASC ‑  Gold ‑ Standard1030141162108189132721104
16Paul KellyAttenborough S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver11021717161320101991312107
17Matt WilliamsCotswold S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver107326151418382014102017128
18Chris HawleyBartley SC 110015131019302222161722134
19Gary CawthornAttenborough S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver6872521231513168172862138
20Steve HawleyBartley S C ‑ Standard ‑ Gold70521161216362615212131148
21Tom ChadfieldBlithfield ‑ Master ‑ Silver108212261714151328284125150
22Iain WilsonBlackpool and Fleetwood S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver5769621836222326151662165
23Garry ButterfieldBartley S C ‑ Master ‑ Gold107830621562251738232313184
24Robin KirbyCotswold S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver111018626223142450251516185
25Geoff TurnerFishguard Bay S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver58738621926371942201420193
26Steve JohnsonCotswold S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Gold104229232643532127262229203
27Simon RobinsPorthpean S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver107233202028454329271938214
28Lewis BrailsfordSutton in Ashfield S C ‑ Junior ‑ SilverLUE32626221244230182923219
29Phil DaviesScammonden S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver105227626227313017243535226
30Kevin LastAttenborough S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver107724276234292547591826230
31Jon PebodyHunts S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver72323626233182734413830244
32James LeckieBartley S C ‑ Silver ‑ StandardRED19192746285262323642249
33Mike MalcolmHaversham S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver61334622535323832383327256
34Ian BarlowAttenborough S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver70262296229174533374228260
35Dave HarrisSevern S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver103862626232582921292419274
36Shaun SmaleWGCSC ‑ Master ‑ Silver109136302848264436394340278
37Brian SmithBowmoor S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver70331223037445024515652289
38Warren MitchellSnettisham Beach S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver101639242447473740484537293
39Mike WalkerBowmoor S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver69228312156483352345248295
40Alan BullSeafarers ‑ Master ‑ Silver60120256250524941423141299
41Ian CasewellReading S C Veteran105762626224393449303233303
42Sam HoodCotswold S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver104637626242233137503747304
43Chris WattsBough Beech S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver105962626244275431352532310
44John WalpoleExe SC 109362626226354018474043311
45John BanbrookBowmoor S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver106962626245343535333439317
46Keith RixChipstead S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver106362626230503646403034328
47Roger PrinceBolton S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver47962626231513962313924339
48Gordon TweedleHaversham S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver69135282951565853534746342
49Robert CeurstemontAttenborough S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver107562626240413225445053347
50Pete BinghamBowmoor S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver106862622238435644494650348
51Tom BaldwinCarsington S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver59562626241425539434945376
52Peter MayBolton S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver68062626239464854454836378
53Rob CornerAttenborough S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver109062626254334762365344391
54Eddie WaringBolton S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver102462326255495962555149412
55Dave BexsonAttenborough S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver68462626258405355464454412
56Donald AppletonBolton S C ‑  Gold ‑ Veteran102262626252545145545451423
57Joe BaconCarsington S C ‑ Standard ‑ Silver42562626253574151575856435
58Stephen SwainHaversham S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver100762626249604643626262446
59Geoff DitchfieldBolton S C ‑ Master ‑ Silver62462626262555748585958459
60Hedley DowlerCotswold S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver39062626257596062565755468
61Mervyn JonesCotswold S C ‑ Veteran ‑ Silver103662626262626262    

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