Eight Tempest class took part in the International Tempest Class Nationals, recently hosted by Portsmouth Sailing Club.
Born Slippy of Jon Modral Gibbins and Colin Meadows from Ullswater YC were the 2023 winners of the UK Nationals held on the race area for the upcoming World Championships at Portsmouth.
The event was also a pre-run of the facilities for the class World Championship being hosted by Portsmouth SC and supported by Hornet SC between 19 and 23 August 2023.
The former Olympic class Tempest is a 22ft, 2-man, high performance keelboat with trapeze and spinnaker, which was selected for and took part in the Munich 1972 and the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games.
Entries are expected for the Worlds from fleets in the AUT, IRL, SUI, FRA and GER as well as the British fleets.
For the nationals Tumbledown Wind was loaned to a combination Royal Navy/Royal New Zeeland Navy Team, Dan and Seegar, who are normally part of an NZL Elliot 6 team.
On the Saturday the fleet raced on the intended area for the upcoming World championship, just to the East of the WW1 & WW2 Submarine barrier, roughly a mile south of Langstone Harbour.
This area gave three superb races out of the way of shipping and pleasure vessels.
Born Slippy with Jon Modral Gibbins (Ullswater YC) lead the way with three wins, with Tumbledown, Alegria, (now crewed by Charles son Andrew Hawkins) and Achtung Baby (Derek Budden and Daughter Caron Kirkwood) very hot on their heals.
Kaleidoscope (Liam Gray and David Nash) Whisky (Simon Hall and Cindy Gao) and Bearboat (Ralph Budden and Rachael Roberts) fighting for the positions at the rear of the fleet.
On Sunday using the Haslar Wall race area outside Portsmouth Harbour, another two superb races were again lead by Born Slippy chased by Achtung Baby.
Over the weekend the racing was very tight with 2nd 3rd and 4th places split by a tie break and 1 point.
The racing was sharp and bodes well for the world event in August, with the PRO adjusting courses and starting the next race start sequence within 10 min of last finisher. Courses were sharp with race duration and all deadlines achieved.
2023 International Tempest Class UK Nationals
1st GBR1161 – Born Slippy, Jon Modral Gibbins and Colin Meadows
2nd GBR1089 – Achtung Baby, Derek Budden and Caron Kirkwood
3rd GBR1185 – Alegria, Charles Hawkins and Andrew Hawkins
4th GBR1069 – Tumbledown Wind, Dan Bryson and Seeger (Winner of Douglas Hollis best placed MK1 Tempest)
5th IRL793 – Kaleidoscope, Liam Gray and David Nash
6th GBR680 – Whisky, Simon Hall and Cindy Gao
7th GBR813 – Bearboat, Ralph Budden and Rachael Roberts
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