News J/24 Spring Cup

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The J/24 Spring Cup, hosted by Parkstone Yacht Club (Poole, England), was the first regatta of the season and a great opportunity to catch up with other J/24 sailors, both on and off the water, since the last regatta in October. With two major European regattas over the coming year, the scene was set for two days of competitive sailing as everyone re-acquainted over windward-leeward courses. Poole provided near perfect conditions, with a fair breeze and sunshine for the first day. The first race saw conditions of 20 knots plus and the whole fleet on jib; the race committee gave a great first course despite shifty conditions. There were some familiar names in the leader board, taking the right lifts and spotting the right side of the course. By the end of Race 2, the inconsistent breeze had most thinking that they could change up to genoa, but it wasn’t until the start of Race 3, when the wind dropped that teams knew a mid race, downwind sail change could be the difference between a top placing and a mid-fleet finish. MADELEINE’s start in Race 3 was hampered by the tide, however skipper Duncan McCarthy not only performed a flawless sail change but also sailed through the fleet to finish first. Dominica Lindsey, new to the J/24 helming on her boat PHOENIX, sailed a great regatta with an impressive third in the third race. William Lack is admired for his tireless enthusiasm encouraging the youth sailors on VINYL SOLUTIONS. Simon Lack sailed an impressive Race 5 and came a close third to two of the fleet’s top helms. Roger Morris’ JOLLY ROGER and Andy Taylor’s HITCH HIKER each had a first place finish by the end of the regatta. Everyone agreed the conditions were incredibly changeable, which led to some tough calls on which side of the course was favored. However, the leader board showed that the top crews consistently made the right calls over the six races. Congratulations to McCarthy’s crew on MADELEINE (Steve Phelps, Spencer Whitworth, Hannah McCarthy & Charlie Fisher) for their performance with a 1-2-1-1-2-4 scorecard and just 7 points net. They fought a closely-matched series of races against Matt Hardy’s CHAOTIC crew (Hugh Styles, Tom Montgomery, Joanna Bainbridge, & Ian Henry) who collected a 2-1-2-3-6-2 tally for 10 points net. Lying third on the podium was Roger Morris’ team on JOLLY ROGER (Paul William, John Sparrow, David Sparrow & Nina Squire), improving every race to post 9-6-4-2-1-6 scores for 19 points. For more UK J/24 Spring Cup sailing information, visithttp://www.parkstoneyachtclub.com/page1401.html.



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