18ft Skiff European Grand Prix Round 4 and UK National Championships
Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy - Supported by Ronstan

There is officially a new definition of windy in the dictionary this summer - that's Weymouth, the venue for the 2012 Olympics. While most of the competitors in Qingdao will be wishing for winds above 6 knots, the 18ft Skiff teams were stuck on the shore on the first day of the UK National Championships and European Grand Prix Round 3 were wishing for something a little below the 36 knots that were gusting on Sunday.

The first day of the event had to be canned when it was clear it would be difficult enough to keep the skiffs on the ground in the dinghy park, let alone upright in the water. The race officer called it a day, and then announced an early start on Monday with a punishing 6 race schedule, which in the end would prove to be an inspired decision.

The event, supported by Ronstan, was marked by the launch of one of the first new skiffs in the UK for a few years in the shape of Rob Greenhalgh's new Van Munster hull, shipped over earlier this year and fitted out just in time for the first start.

Interestingly, and breaking away from the current trend in rig/sail combinations, Rob and his team have opted for a radical new approach sporting a profiled UK built Selden carbon rig with North UK Sails.

Monday was a day for No2 rigs, and Rob's mainsail sported the largest square top seen to date, and a mast which is reported to be significantly stiffer for and aft than the benchmark Southern Spars rigs currently dominating in the Southern Hemisphere. Only time will tell if it matches up to the Aussie teams, and probably the first chance for that will happen next year in Carnac for the classes' world championships.

It was clear however that the Greenhalgh brothers, with usual middle man Dan Johnson, has lost none of their boathandling or boatspeed skills that brought them the JJ Giltinan in 2003, and they put a marker down early that they will be again a force to reckon with in the next 12 months, in the run up to Carnac.

They put in an almost clean sheet of bullets, only marred by a 3rd place mid way through their series when they started a little late having had to replace a tiller extension.

But although they dominated the racing, in reality in most of the races they were pushed by one or other teams. Andy Richards in Pindar proved to be their main challenger in the first half of the days series of races and were especially hard to shake off downwind, with Mason Woodworth in Investec taking up the relay for the second half with some great upwind legs leading most of the way round.

Ian Turnbull and Ronstan had, by their current season standards, an average day never really getting into top gear in the 16-22knot breeze, with the ever consistent PICA rounding out the top 5 positions.

After a challenging days racing, the teams woke up Tuesday morning to the forecasted 35+ knots and racing was duly cancelled for the day and marked the close of the three day event, with Greenhalgh crowned UK National Champion The teams now move on to Hamble and the Solent for the second leg of the UK rounds of the European tour with hopefully some more favourable wind conditions.

18ft Skiff - Results (top 10, 6 races, 1 discard)

1st Benny Rob Greenhalgh, Pete Greehalgh, Dan Johnson (1,1,3,1,1,1) 5pts
2nd Pindar Andy Richards, Andrew Fairley, Dave Richards (2,3,1,DNF,3,3) 12pts
3rd Investec Mason Woodworth, David Browne, Si Hamilton (7,5,4,2,2,2) 15pts
4th Ronstan Ian Turnbull, Paul Constable, Alec McKinlay (4,4,2,4,6,4) 18pts
5th PICA Jamie Mears, Andy Ramus, Stuart Mears (5,2,5,3,4,5) 19pts
6th GP Covers Flemming Clausen, Tom Partington, Soren Clausen (3,6,6,5,8,6) 26pts
7th Gill Ed Browne, Mark Tait, Mark Addison (6,7,7,7,5,7) 32pts
8th Fat Face Tim Penfold, Matt Alvarado, Will Penfold (8,8,DNC, 6,7,DNF) 40pts
9th SP Systems Phil Walker, Matt Sherwood, Niall Ferguson (DNC, 9,8,8,10,9) 44pts
10th Grapefruit Ben Clothier, Richard Mason, Alan Sign (DNF, 10,9,DNC, 9,8) 47pts

18ft Skiffs: www.uk18footer.org

by Alec Mckinlay

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