Cup 1 - Weymouth

126 sailors turned out to race last bank holiday weekend 2nd, 3rd & 4th May for Round one of The UKWA National Championships Cup 1 at Weymouth sailing academy.

Saturday greeted competitors with sunshine and a light chilly breeze . The race officer ran 2 rounds of racing for all raceboard fleets in the morning session. After lunch as the wind built a further two rounds of extremely exciting course racing for raceboard fleets & three back to back races for formula were held.

On Saturday night there was a Welcome to The UKWA party in the function room at the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy, which was enjoyed by all.

Sunshine was again the order of the day on Sunday but the wind was far more challenging. Big wind shifts combined with gusts and lulls tested even the most experienced campaigners but the race officer was not to be deterred. 5 rounds of course racing for all raceboard fleets tested the strength and fitness levels of all not to mention the saw hands and blisters. Conditions made formula racing difficult, and a big sail, a good start and playing the shifts were the order of the day as three further rounds of racing were held for the formula fleet.

Monday morning again saw a light early morning breeze but by 11am it had settled and all fleets had two good races in the best wind of the weekend so far. However no one expected the afternoon to be quite so exciting. As competitors made their way to the start line for the final two races of the event the wind filled in. A steady 18 knots made for exciting racing in all fleets. A quite inspired decision by the race officer to lay the finish line 5 metres from the shore for the final race made a spectacular finish to the event enjoyed by competitors and spectators alike. A total of 13 rounds of racing for raceboard and 10 for formula made this a quite memorable event for all.

Thanks to Weymouth Sailing Academy for making us so welcome, the rescue crews, the race officer and his team, the admin staff, the scorer and all those volunteers who helped set up break down the site after the event.

Thanks also to Windtek, O'Neill, North / Mistral and Tushingham / Starboard for the prizes awarded to the ever growing raceboard fleet

Raceboards (31)

1st Dave Hackford
2nd Robert Kent
3rd Tom Naylor

RS:X (25)

1st Elliot Carney
2nd Ali Masters
3rd Richard Hamilton

Techno (45)

1st 6.8 Kieran Martin
2nd 6.8 Adam Purcell
3rd 6.8 Joe Bennett
1st 7.8 Sam Sills
2nd 7.8 Stuart Hards
3rd 7.8 Jack Plummer

Formula (20)

1st Keith Atkinson
2nd Richard Jones
3rd Liam Round

Freerace (5)

1st Richard Wadsworth

Full results, pictures from Andy and Mathieu, and others from MRocheImages.