Astral Azure 2000 class National Championship at the Royal Torbay Yacht Club - Overall

After the lay day and the exceptional Noble Marine young sailors fish and chip supper, which was a tour de force, Thursday dawned a little dodgy. Torbay was not looking at its best, totally grey, very low cloud, constant rain showers scudding through and at times poor visibility. Paignton frequently completely disappeared which many of the RTYC volunteers believed vastly improved the situation. There was also a little matter of a fairly breezy forecast.

But none of this was going to stop 2000 sailors and far more importantly the RTYC race team. The brilliant PRO Bob Penfold got his team out on the course area early and quickly reported the breeze was pretty stable from the SW at around 14-18 knots with the odd tiny excursion into 20 knots so the fleet launched for what proved a major epic day.

Astral Azure 2000 class National Championship at Torbay - photo © Tania Hutchings / www.50northphotography.co.uk

After mounting the pin end boat on race 6 Ollie Groves and Esther Parkhurst knew they had no room for error now but sailed a majestic faultless day to win both races in fine style. Also on top form were Ed and Andy Connellan who pushed Ollie/Esther throughout to finish 2nd in race 7 and then won a full on very tight fight with Matt Sargent/Zak Mitchell to claim 2nd in race 8. Matt/Zak had met for the first time on Saturday and clearly time in the boat was showing with a fine Thursday; 3rd also in race 7 they climbed to 3rd overall.

9-year-old Harry Clapham given it large crewing for Dad James during the Astral Azure 2000 class National Championship at Torbay - photo © Tania Hutchings / www.50northphotography.co.uk

With one day to go the overall was seriously tight throughout the fleet. 1st and 2nd overall were separated by 2 points, 3rd/4th overall were on the same points, 5th to 10th covered by 5 points and the top 5 in the Bronze fleet covered by 4 points. After a dodgy weather day on Thursday Torbay produced for the Friday. It was if Carlsberg did final days at Championships this was it; sunshine, blue skies, 10-15 knots from WSW, spot on race management and ear to ear smiles.

Astral Azure 2000 class National Championship at Torbay - photo © Tania Hutchings / www.50northphotography.co.uk

Race 9 and Ollie/Esther led from mark 1 just ahead of the Connellan's and Pete Vincent/Sophie Bentley. After 2 more laps Ollie/Esther were still in the lead but could not shake off Pete/Sophie who then hooked into a little bit of extra pressure in the final quarter of the last run to get the overlap at the final leeward mark to win. The Connellan's were 3rd with Adrian/Ros Stell having a fine championship in 4th. The final race felt a carbon copy with the same 3 boats in the same order at the first mark but this time Ollie/Esther marshalled the fleet well to score a fine win to take overall victory at be crowned the Astral Azure 2024 2000 National Champions.

A very happy youth helm Edie Carter with dad Jeremy during the Astral Azure 2000 class National Championship at Torbay - photo © Tania Hutchings / www.50northphotography.co.uk

Huge vote of thanks to Astral Azure overall sponsors and the fine support from Lakes Mortgages, West Country Boat Repairs and Noble Marine.

It was an extremely happy 2000 fleet that gathered for the final overall prize-giving; beaming faces, red noses spoke a 1000 words. Other prizes winners were:

• 1st Grandmaster Alan Goule (Paignton SC)
• 1st Youth Helm Jacob Allen (Cardiff Bay YC)
• 1st Newcomers Oliver and Elliott Thompson (West Riding SC)
• Family/Junior Jonathan and Louisa Ching (Weir Wood SC)
• Top Club RNSA
• 1st Silver division Oliver and Elliott Thompson (West Riding SC)
• 1st Bronze division Alan Goule Cathy Stevens (Paignton SC)

With immense gratitude to all the RTYC volunteers who made the 25th anniversary Nationals such a triumph.

Overall Results: