Noble Marine / Ovington Boats UKLA ILCA6 Qualifier 1 at Brightlingsea Sailing Club

Noble Marine /Ovington Boats UKLA ILCA6 Qualifier at Brightlingsea © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

This weekend saw the first UKLA Qualifier of the year, held in Brightlingsea. Before the event had even started, it was clear that it was going to be a difficult weekend. All week, the forecast for Saturday had built and built, whilst Sunday was on the other end of the spectrum.

Unfortunately, the forecast was right and sailors arrived to strong onshore winds exceeding 30 knots in the gusts. Subsequently, we were held ashore until 1:30 when the wind finally dropped to a suitable level. The race management team did a stellar job of delivering two great races in prime sailing conditions; 15-20 knots and big waves, what's not to love?

Race 1 was won by Mish Collingridge who had a tough battle with Adriana Penruddocke, with Mish only securing an overlap in the last few boat lengths of the final downwind. Shortly after Ben Elvin came through to round off the podium in 3rd.

Race two was a very different story. Brightlingsea is a very tidal venue, with the tide often flowing at 2-3 knots. Therefore, it is an extremely relevant factor when racing at Brightlingsea. Clearly the fleet had underestimated its strength and failed to realise the tide had turned for the second race. As a result, we had 3 general recalls and only just managed to get a second race under way.

Noble Marine /Ovington Boats UKLA ILCA6 Qualifier at Brightlingsea - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Prior to the start there had also been a left shift, meaning that the Pin end of the line was now biassed. The other advantage of starting at the pin was that it allowed you to lead out to the left where there was more tide going with you upwind. Jon Emmett executed this best and rounded in 1st. He held this position to win the race by a comfortable margin in the end. 2nd and 3rd were closely contested for on the last downwind with four boats only 2 boat lengths apart. However, Alfie Noel and Will Pank, in his first laser event in a long time, impressively finished off the podium. So that was day 1 and sailors rushed ashore to beat the sunset and avoid an even colder packup.

Noble Marine /Ovington Boats UKLA ILCA6 Qualifier at Brightlingsea - photo © Lotte Johnson / www.lottejohnson.com

Day 2 was not promising with no forecast predicting more than 7 knots average. Normally this would be fine to race in, however the strong tide meant otherwise. Sailors were inevitably held ashore and a long waiting game consisting of school work (for some) and Virtual Regatta started. Unfortunately, the wind never materialised and after 3 or so hours of waiting the race management team displayed AP over A, no more racing today. The most important thing was that we had done enough races to constitute a series and so a prize-giving was swiftly held in Brightlingsea's lovely clubhouse. It was a nice change to leave the club at 2 O'clock and get home at a suitable time, although there was now no excuse not to do my homework.

The UKLA Qualifier series is kindly sponsored by Noble Marine, Ovington Boats, Sailingfast and Rooster. In Qualifier 1 Noble Marine and Ovington supplied the prizes which were gratefully received by all the sailors.

Massive thanks to all the volunteers, who without this event would not be possible. Brightlingsea sailing club were also fantastic, making pasta after sailing and making us feel very welcome. Sailors are looking forward to the next two weekends where we have back to back qualifiers in Weymouth. Hopefully, we get more fortunate with the wind and get a full series completed!

Overall Results: