2014 RYA/UKWA National windsurfing Championships (Inland Nationals, Junior Youth and Masters championship, Team 15 Champions Cup): Raceboard report.

For 2014, the RYA Youth and Masters were combined with the National Junior Championships, Team 15 champions cup, and UKWA Inland nationals to form one massive event at Rutland Sailing club. There were 220 windsurfers and it was pretty busy on the beach and on the water, but thanks to some good organising, the event went very smoothly! There were 27 raceboards entered, of which 6 were youth: the highest youth entry for a long time.

Myself: focussed mid gybe (photo by John Liddy)

On Saturday, the wind was quite light and very shifty, which lead to lots of shuffling up and lead changes during the race which was pretty exciting stuff. It was the kind of conditions which Rob Kent and Guy Spreckley excel in. Rob got it wrong in the first race (and Mark Kay got it even more wrong) allowing me to win with Guy in 2^nd, but in the next 2 races, he sailed brilliantly to take the win, whilst I was playing catch up having ended up on the wrong side of some shifts. By the last race, the wind had picked up to about 10 knots or so: enough for me to plane all the way downwind and be faster than most upwind, with a good start and a tactically sound upwind, once ahead I just had to play it safe in the middle of the course and won comfortably. Myself and Rob ended the day on tied points, with Guy in 3^rd.

Guy Spreckley (photo by John Liddy)

On Sunday, there were some gusts up to 15 knots but still lulls of 8 knots or less. It was still shifty, but with the wind slightly more easterly than Saturday, there was usually a big gain on the right side of the course. However there were a few shifts and gusts that undid this gain, and there were a few times when I had to dig myself out of a bit of a hole. Having a sail with the power to keep pointing and railing through the lulls yet convert gusts into acceleration rather than drag really helped me to keep my speed up through the gusty conditions and capitalise on shifts to recover some sticky positions. Like the last race on Sunday, my downwind speed was best than most, and I managed to win all of the races.

Tom Naylor giving it some power downwind (photo by John Liddy)

Mark Kay found another gear and was fighting back with 3 2nds and a 3^rd, he was certainly a lot quicker than on Saturday, and it sometimes felt like he was attached to the back of my board by a 50m bit of string! Rob Kent did just enough to keep his 2^nd overall, Guy Spreckley didn’t quite have the speed to keep up his amazing performance from the first day so slipped into 5^th overall behind an outrageously consistent Tom Naylor. Tom was flying upwind as usual, and put some effort in downwind to get 9 4^th places and a 5^th: enough to get him 1^st veteran and 4^th overall.

Annette Kent (photo by Andy Watkinson)

With 8 sailors racing on 8.5 (youth + ladies) there was some noteworthy battles there as well. Lewis Barnes usually races as a heavyweight 9.5, but borrowed an 8.5 to win the Youth national title by an impressive margin. Annette Kent was first lady: only two points ahead of Lewis and 3 ahead of Harriet Ellis. 2^nd and 3^rd youth was too close to call, with Jenna Gibson having the edge on her XR-Race 8.5 over Robin Mcallister on Saturday. Robin fought back in the stronger winds on Sunday to finish on tied points, but ended up in 3^rd on the tie break rule.

Robin McAllister (photo by Andy Watkinson)

I have to mention Phil Hards, who had some of the best starts in the business as well as some serious upwind speed, all he needs now is a Starboard Phantom and he’d keep up downwind too! Also well done to my brother Ross who borrowed my 8.5 Lightning and ancient Megacat in his first National contest since Team 15 cup in 2011 (on 5.8) he was very quick upwind, especially when it got windy.

Ross Morris (photo by Andy Watkinson)

Full results here

Raceboard Results summary:

1^st Overall - Louis Morris, 1^st Lightweight (Tushingham/Starboard)

2^nd Overall – Rob Kent, 1^st Master (Tushingham/Starboard)

3^rd Overall – Mark Kay, 1^st Heavyweight (Demon/Starboard)

4^th Overall – Tom Naylor, 1^st Veteran (Tushingham/Starboard)

1^st Lady – Annette Kent, 6^th Overall (Tushingham/Starboard)

2^nd Lady – Harriet Ellis, 8^th Overall (Demon/Starboard)

3^rd Lady – Jenna Gibson, 12^th Overall (Tushingham/Fanatic)

1^st Youth – Lewis Barnes, 7^th Overall (Demon/Starboard)

2^nd Youth – Jenna Gibson, 12^th Overall (Tushingham/Fanatic)

3^rd Youth – Robin McAllister, 13^th Overall (Tushingham/Starboard)