17 sailors from 10 different clubs and as far away as Dartmoor and Fleetwood attended the 6 metre National Championships at Norwich Model Yacht Club . A total of 8 different yacht designs were taking part.
As a sign of respect for Mick Shillington, who as we all know has recently passed away, and who was a great supporter of the 6m class, all competing yachts carried Mick's personal number of 28, he will be sadly missed in the class.
Saturday morning dawned with a light SW wind which meant that PRO Vinnie Zammit had to set a starboard rounding triangular course, knowing that conditions would be tricky especially when approaching the windward mark.
As there were 17 boats in the competition HMS was used with 4 up and 4 down promotion / relegation.
The seeding races were completed and all had a taste of how fluky conditions could be with the wind in this direction. Unfortunately this only allowed for 3 races to be completed before lunch, however as the day went on the wind increased and went further to the west which allowed for a reasonable beat to windward.
By lunchtime the positions were Terry Burton followed by Shaun Holbeche and Bernie Guest with 13 points covering the first 5 yachts.
The afternoon racing was carried out in more favourable conditions and all skippers enjoyed the sometimes testing wind shifts plus the occasional severe gusts which kept the spectators entertained. At the end of the first day the positions were Terry, Shaun and John Hanton.
The Saturday evening most of the sailors and the race committee met at the local hostelry to take on some beer and buffet and managed to sort out the world.
Sunday morning arrived with a fresher westerly wind which slowly increased throughout the day. Unfortunately the increasing wind caused some breakages despite most of the skippers reducing sail by lunchtime the fleet was down to 13 boats, the conditions suited Shaun who won 3 of the 4 races in the morning and he moved in front of Terry by 2 points John Hanton was still in 3rd.
With the reduction in fleet size to 13 (2 yachts held together with cable ties) PRO Vinnie decided to reduce to one fleet after lunch, this produced some of the best racing of the event in lovely sunny conditions with a stiff breeze. Both Shaun and Terry continued to dominate proceedings with Shaun coping with the conditions better than Terry, Shaun ended up a convincing winner with Terry second and Mike Ewart 3rd (on countback)
Mention must be made of the gentlemanly attitude of the leading skippers and their attitude to the other skippers.
With 19 races completed the PRO called it a day, much to the relief of some very tired skippers.
Well done to all the competitors, on their conduct on the water and a big thank you to all the helpers from the Norwich club in running the event.
As a sign of respect for Mick Shillington, who as we all know has recently passed away, and who was a great supporter of the 6m class, all competing yachts carried Mick's personal number of 28, he will be sadly missed in the class.
Saturday morning dawned with a light SW wind which meant that PRO Vinnie Zammit had to set a starboard rounding triangular course, knowing that conditions would be tricky especially when approaching the windward mark.
As there were 17 boats in the competition HMS was used with 4 up and 4 down promotion / relegation.
The seeding races were completed and all had a taste of how fluky conditions could be with the wind in this direction. Unfortunately this only allowed for 3 races to be completed before lunch, however as the day went on the wind increased and went further to the west which allowed for a reasonable beat to windward.
By lunchtime the positions were Terry Burton followed by Shaun Holbeche and Bernie Guest with 13 points covering the first 5 yachts.
The afternoon racing was carried out in more favourable conditions and all skippers enjoyed the sometimes testing wind shifts plus the occasional severe gusts which kept the spectators entertained. At the end of the first day the positions were Terry, Shaun and John Hanton.
The Saturday evening most of the sailors and the race committee met at the local hostelry to take on some beer and buffet and managed to sort out the world.
Sunday morning arrived with a fresher westerly wind which slowly increased throughout the day. Unfortunately the increasing wind caused some breakages despite most of the skippers reducing sail by lunchtime the fleet was down to 13 boats, the conditions suited Shaun who won 3 of the 4 races in the morning and he moved in front of Terry by 2 points John Hanton was still in 3rd.
With the reduction in fleet size to 13 (2 yachts held together with cable ties) PRO Vinnie decided to reduce to one fleet after lunch, this produced some of the best racing of the event in lovely sunny conditions with a stiff breeze. Both Shaun and Terry continued to dominate proceedings with Shaun coping with the conditions better than Terry, Shaun ended up a convincing winner with Terry second and Mike Ewart 3rd (on countback)
Mention must be made of the gentlemanly attitude of the leading skippers and their attitude to the other skippers.
With 19 races completed the PRO called it a day, much to the relief of some very tired skippers.
Well done to all the competitors, on their conduct on the water and a big thank you to all the helpers from the Norwich club in running the event.
Shaun Holbeche our 2017 National Champion
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Terry Burton 2nd Place 2017 Nationals
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During the Nationals a listing was made of what equipment was being used by all the competitors
