Ross Banham held off stiff competiton from Nick Zeltner and Sam Whaley to take out the 2022 UK WASZP Nationals in Weymouth on the final day.
Hattie Rogers – 12th overall – took the women’s title for the second year running ahead of newcomer to the fleet, Bella Fellows.
The first day of the competition was dedicated to the Slalom tournament. With just enough breeze to get all the heats and finals away, it was Welshman Zac Blomeley that came out on top to take the Slalom victory. Hattie Rogers sealed the women’s Slalom title.
Four races were sailed on day one of the championship in an increasing breeze. Familiar faces in the fleet were battling at the front. Ross Banham, fresh from silver at the Europeans, and Nick Zeltner of Switzerland with the pair joint on points at the top of the world ranking.
British Sailing Team ILCA sailor Sam Whaley, the 2021 national champion, was also fighting at the front in defence of his title. The trio traded blows but it was Banham who led after day one.
On day two of the championship, the race team compressed the course and ordered a higher number of laps to avoid the choppiness sailors had experienced on the previous day.
This time, Zeltner bounced back against his rivals with three race wins out of four . . . while Banham did enough to hold the overall lead.
Whaley suffered a nasty collision with Dutch sailor Eliott Savelon that saw him miss two races as he rushed back to shore to make some emergency repairs. He returned to score a 2 and an 8, keeping him in the fight.
By now, Hattie Rogers had opened a commanding lead in the women’s division, but the battles for the age groups were tight!
On the morning of the final day, the sailors woke to 25-30 knots on the wind instruments! The AP was promptly displayed and the sailors sheltered in the clubhouse waiting for the wind to moderate . . . eventually, the wind dipped to an average of 20-22 knots, so the AP came down.
Even for the heavyweights, it was a day of hanging on and keeping the boat under control. Damage limitation seemed a popular strategy, with only necessary manoeuvres executed.
The battle between Banham and Zeltner came to the wire, with places switching on the last downwind of the last race. Whaley successfully kept Zeltner at bay, but the same could not be said for Evans with Banham.
Banham just soaked inside enough to command the final gybe and take Evans, earning him the 2022 UK National Title and edging him into the world number one spot.
No doubt the rivalry will be revisited at the WASZP Games in Garda in a couple of weeks!
In the age groups Ewan Wilson claimed the Junior division whilst Andy Bridgman took the Apprentice title, Christian Smart won the Masters’ category and Geoff Carveth won the super-masters.
WASZP 2022 UK Nationals – Final Leaders (51 entries)
1st GBR Ross Banham 1 2 1 -4 2 2 -3 1 2 3 – – 14 pts
2nd SUI Nick Zeltner -3 -3 3 1 1 1 1 3 3 2 – – 15 pts
3rd GBR Sam Whaley 2 1 5 2 -38 (DNC[56.0]) 2 8 1 1 – – 22 pts
4th GBR Tom Pollard -6 4 4 3 4 4 -31 4 4 4 – – 31 pts
5th GBR Ewan Wilson 5 5 6 -7 7 7 6 7 7 -9 – – 50 pts
6th GBR Andrew Bridgman -13 (UFD[56.0]) 8 9 5 5 8 5 6 6 – – 52 pts
7th GBR Martin Evans 9 6 -20 -13 12 12 5 2 5 5 – – 56 pts
8th GBR William Heathcote -11 10 -14 6 8 3 7 6 10 10 – – 60 pts
9th GBR Arthur Fry 4 7 9 -12 3 10 9 12 8 -13 – – 62 pts
10th IRL Henry Start 8 8 10 10 10 8 10 9 -12 -11 – – 73 pts
11th GBR Zac Blomeley -16 12 11 8 6 6 12 10 -14 14 – – 79 pts
12th GBR Hattie Rogers 7 -11 -12 11 9 11 11 11 11 8 – – 79 pts
13th IRL Max Goodbody (UFD[56.0]) 13 7 25 13 9 4 (DNC) 9 7 – – 87 pts
14th HKG Duncan Gregor -21 -20 18 14 11 13 15 19 13 12 – – 115 pts
15th GBR Isabelle Fellows 15 16 16 -18 15 14 13 13 -20 16 – – 118 pts
16th GBR Will Crocker 10 -21 -21 15 20 15 14 15 15 18 – – 122 pts
17th GBR Tom Williamson 18 15 -26 19 16 17 (UFD) 16 17 15 – – 133 pts
18th GER Sven Gauter -32 (UFD) 13 17 14 16 17 18 24 19 – – 138 pts
19th GBR James Deaton 17 14 -25 -26 19 22 21 17 18 20 – – 148 pts
20th GBR Lewis Clark -22 17 17 20 18 18 22 -28 19 21 – – 152 pts
21st GBR Olly McGill 24 23 19 16 22 20 16 14 (DNC) (DNC) – – 154 pts
22nd GBR Eve Kennedy 12 18 15 22 24 -27 19 -33 26 26 – – 162 pts
23rd GBR Christian Smart 19 22 24 21 -27 -26 23 21 23 24 – – 177 pts
24th GBR Geoff Carveth -27 19 22 23 23 25 25 -27 22 23 – – 182 pts
25th NZL Daniel Goodman 20 24 -35 (DNC) 31 24 24 26 28 25 – – 202 pts
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