A terrifically tense but very well sailed final day gave us worthy new 29er National Champions in Matt Venables and Will Alloway. Matt and Will won through consistency throughout the range and the series without a single race win. Brilliant regatta building.
You also had to feel for Ian Payne and Chris Berry who had stitched their own great series together. Anyone would have been proud of their mature series and sporting approach. Third place was won by Tom Methven and Rob Lloyd. Top adult entry was 4th Ben Batten and Finbar Anderson.
Silver Fleet winners were Rob Morris and Tess Allan despite sharing a penultimate race BFD with fellow contenders Cameron and Fraser Kitson Jones who took second. Myles Jackson and Gareth Viney could thank their penultimate race bullet for the tie break third place overall from Danielle Rowe and Rachel Tilley’s final race 2nd place.
The U16 championship went to Owen Bowerman and Morgan Peach (5th overall) who were Transition Squad last winter. The hugely popular home team Jack Hawkins and Chris Thomas got over their mid series disappointment to remind us of their diamond quality to recover to 6th overall. A very merited performance gave top Irish boat, Sean and Tadgh Donnelley, the best Overseas Trophy in 7th. Ollie Cooper and James Poyner beasted the big wind to take that race win and rounded out the top 10 overall.
The Ladies Championship Title went down to the wire and had the scoring computer steaming. With excellent scores in R9 and 10 Ruth Allan and Alice Masterman took the lead from Vikki Payne and Steffi Orton. In the final race Vikki and Steffi took of around the course like a scalded cat but Ruth and Alice still needed drop below 15th. But incredibly they came exactly 15th so it was a tie break. So the title was Ruth and Alice’s courtesy of a pair of threes winning it over three fours.
29er - Zhik National Championship, Final leading postions (64 entries)
1st 2025 Matt VENABLES / Will ALLOWAY Sutton/Rutland 47.0pts
2nd 2024 Ian PAYNE / Chris BERRY Rutland SC/Rutland SC 50.0
3rd 1194 Tom METHVEN / Rob LLOYD Plymouth Youth S 60.0
4th 8 Benjamin BATTEN / Finbar ANDERSON Lymington Town SC 66.0
5th 21 Owen BOWERMAN / Morgan PEACH HISC/Royal Torbay YC U16 70.0
6th 1858 Jack HAWKINS / Christopher THOMAS Restronguet SC/St Mawes SC 83.0
7th 2026 Sean DONNELLY / Tadgh DONNELLY NYC 90.0
8th 2018 Ruth ALLAN / Alice MASTERMAN Emsworth SC/Hayling Island SC F 96.0
9th 1960 Vikki PAYNE / Stephanie ORTON Emsworth SC/Chichester YC F 96.0
10th 1754 Ollie COOPER / ames POYNER Hayling Island SC 99.0
G New
25 August 2012 11:22