The forecast looks a windy one, so with a limit of 120 boats consisting of 5 different classes (Big T, F18, 5.9s. Spits and Shadows) the race course is going to be one interesting place.
Webcam
For the Tornado, Spifire and Shadow this is their main Uk event comprising the Nationals for the T and Shadow and the combined Nationals and Europeans for the Spitfire, with a few of the leading F18 sailors jumping onto Tornados and Spitfires and a few foreign entries expected the competition for the big titles will be hard fought.
Nationals Class by Class favourites -
Tornado - Well this is a close one call, Last years champion Kyle Stoneham will have his work cutout to repeat this, Grant Piggot who has been on good form all year on his Nacra returns to the fleet and will be looking to dish out some punishment on another favourite John Ready- these two had a battle Royal early on this year at the 5.9 Nationals with Ready winning on count back, there are a few German teams heading over and also Aussie Ryan Duffield who could be in with a shout - My bet is Piggott to take this one.
Spitfire - With the breeze forecast and on home turf Henry White (Regs Grandson) will be hard to beat this year, Gary Smith also likes the breeze , as does Adam Piggott (provided hes got a boat otherwise he will be F18ing) , also could be a return to the fleet of Sproaty and possibly David White (Baby David). My bet is a Title for Henry which would be apt !!
Shadows - id stick my neck out and say this one will be easier to call, Yves Loday, Olympic Gold Medalist class builder will surely have this sewn up, id say Ollie Harris would be the dark horse but it would have to be gear failure or maybe an OCS or two that will Rob Yves of this win - My Bet then Yves to win !!
Final thought - this weekend will be sure to bring out many memories and stories of Reg and i will share my last conversation i had with him here - Regs latest passion was sailing his Brightlingsea One Design and as he was always pushing boundaries in whichever class he sailed the BOD was no exception, he was chatting to me at this years dinghy show (we were on the Shocker stand) about how he had been having problems with the mainsail halyard stretching because of the distance from the cleat(at the base of the mast) to the head of the sail, Regs solution to this problem was a simple but ingenious . he went off to the spinlock stand and 5 minutes later came back with a new pxr cleat and calmly announced he would just simply screw it to the top of the mast and trip it with a small trip line run down the side of the mast !!! After a moment i said to him well thats fine Reg but what happens if the trip line breaks or gets caught up and you cant get the sail down - quick as a flash he replied "Well boy its on a Swinging mooring ill just leave the sails up till the next weekend then "
I never knew whether he fitted that cleat but it doesn't matter, Reg you will be missed by all, i will certainly be having a few jars in your honour this weekend, and as I'm sure you will be watching from above can you send some nice shifts my way !!!!
Reg Sailing the Tornado.
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