10th/11th March 2018

Royal Torbay Yacht Club hosted the first of the 420 World and European qualifiers last weekend. After an initial delay to the sailing as the race officer waited for the wind to swing round and the visibility to improve, racing kicked off in 20+ knots and rolling waves.

Corinthian Otter, Charlie Bacon sailing with Jack Lewis, ended the day with a 3,2,3. There were numerous capsizes, some before the start of race one and a number of DNS/DNCs appearing across the fleet as sailors struggled with the gusty and wavy conditions. So a great day of challenging racing with similar conditions forecast for Sunday.

Sunday morning was a lot more promising, the wind had dropped slightly to around 15 knots and swung round to the east but as is so often the case down in Torbay there were now some very large rollers still heading into Torbay, stirred up in the swell from the previous 24 hours. Jack and Charlie maintained their form. They won the last race to finish 1st U17, 1st all boy boat and 2nd overall.

Next event is Selector Series 2 at Rutland on the 17/18th March.

Nick Bacon