Welsh Schools Championships at Dale Yacht Club

The Welsh Open Schools Championships were run by the Welsh Yachting Association and Dale Yacht Club over the weekend of 14/15 July 2001. The event was generously sponsored by Texaco’s Pembroke Plant and attracted sailors from all over Wales.

Racing was run on two courses: The inner course saw racing for Optimists, Toppers and Slow Handicap run by Blake Shaw and Mark Dashfield and their team. The outer course had a Laser Radial and Fast Handicap fleet under the team of Colonel John Webber and Rolfe John. Both courses had no excuses for missing any starting signals as Dale YC’s cannons were used which could easily be heard ashore! The race management was very smooth getting in 4 races on Saturday leaving the final two for Sunday morning.

62 Boats were greeted by a 10-12 knot North to Northwest breeze on Saturday morning which increased slightly towards the middle of the day before dropping to 8-10 knots for the final race. Sunday saw the breeze moving slightly to the left but still a perfect 8-10knots. Sunshine on both days made for an excellent weekends racing.

The Optimist fleet was dominated by Hannah Mills of Cardiff. Currently ranked Number 1 girl in the UK, she had no problems showing the boys the way and is looking forward to representing GBR at the Optimist Europeans in Gran Canaria in a few weeks time. Other race honors went to Ben Pym and James Hopson. Sean Evans put a good series together to take second overall and along with Hannah claimed the prize for the best two boats from a county, both representing Cardiff.

David Campbell showed the 23 boat Topper fleet the way most of the time only being beaten twice, by Lisa Williams and Charles Cooper. There was a good local turnout from Dale YC, some of whom were competing in their first major regatta.

The Slow Handicap fleet was won by a 405 sailed by Gareth Davies and Richard Mills. Of the 3 Mirrors Richard Jennings and Royston Gadd took the Trophy for the class by one point from Richard and Matthew Reid.

Although a small fleet, the Laser Radials enjoyed some close racing. Hywel Poole took the title after sailing his main opponent to the back of the fleet in the last race to secure his win.

The Fast Handicap fleet was a mix of 29ers, 420s a cherub and a Laser Fun. The 29ers led the fleet most of the time, but were challenged by the 420 and cherub on handicap. Andrew Skubala and Mari Shepherd took the trophy with 3 wins out of the six races. Dave Freemantle and James Penn were second with Mike and Craig Jones in third also taking the 420 trophy and best local.

An excellent event and as usual many people to thank. The team from Dale Yacht Club was excellent with superb organisation on and off the water. The club was most welcoming with good food and bar facilities. Thanks must also go to Texaco for their sponsorship and to Phil Thompson for presenting the prizes.

Overall Results: