(Oh so POSH) Byte Nationals at Paignton Sailing Club

Byte Nationals at Paignton © Dan Sears

Byte Nationals at Paignton © Dan Sears

This year, the Bytes combined their three day National Championships with the POSH single handed event hosted by Paignton Sailing Club. Having an “extra day” on Friday 6th May gave the fleet the opportunity to get to grips with the venue before the massed ranks of other boats (Phantoms, Blazes, Aeros, OKs, etc) arrived for the Saturday and Sunday racing.

The 9-race series was hotly contended with bullets being shared between Duncan Glen (class swimming champion from Spinnaker), Ryan Bush (downwind flyer from Bristol Corinthian) and Rick Whitehouse (Byte God from Combs).

The wind took a while to settle down on the Friday but finally a nice 12 knot off shore breeze established itself. Saturday was lighter with the wind shutting off just after the start of 6th race causing it to be abandoned and re-scheduled for the final day. Sunday dawned a bit cooler with a lumpy onshore sea making progress upwind a bit more tricky and enough waves downwind to catch out the unwary (or over- zealous) on the runs. Overall Duncan and Ryan were tied on points with the former taking the title on countback to become this year’s National Champion.

The fleet was remarkably close throughout with little difference in boat speed seen between the boats. Fourth place was taken by Kirsten Glen (1st lady from Spinnaker) after a close battle with Mary Cooper (a ringer if ever there was one from Thorney Island) and fleet new comer Will Sears (class mascot and one to watch for the future from Christchurch).

The fleet dinner on Friday evening (generously sponsored by Rick) and the POSH curry on Saturday night were thoroughly enjoyed by all including support teams. The onshore camaraderie was excellent and I think it’s fair to say that everyone enjoyed their weekend on the English Rivera. Lessons learnt for the next visit – the ice-cream shop on the right hand side is better than the one on the left and “crabby chips” are a thing of beauty.

The Byte races on Saturday and Sunday also formed part of the overall POSH series. Ryan came a very credible second overall (bit of theme starting), reinforcing the excellent pedigree of the Bytes amongst the big boys (and girls). The race management was first class, as were all of the on shore helpers – many thanks to Paignton for hosting another excellent event and looking after the Bytes superbly.

Overall Results: