Day four dawned with aching bodies from day three and a glassy bay. The boat park was still full of stories from the races the day before, with more ups and downs than UTMB. (Read the report here) But there was racing to be had. Tim and Heather Wilkins had a good lead out in front, but from 2nd down it was all to play for.
The breeze filled in as forecasted from the North West with flat water and 8-12 knots. Marginal planning conditions and enough shifts to get the inland sailors excited.
After watching the 600s fight for the pin we were up for race eight. As a reminder, Tim and Heather only needed to be consistent to retain their title, so of course they went for a port flyer. The rest of the fleet mindful of the U flag nearly let them get away with it, but they couldn’t quite cross and had to tack and truck out to the left with the rest of us.
It was nip and tuck up the first beat, with at first the right-hand boats looking good then the top left working and everyone rounding the first mark within 25 seconds. It was planing conditions to start with, but as Luke and Will gybed first and led the charge to the left, it dropped into a soak mode. Paul and Fresh, having rounded in fourth or fifth, pushed into the right corner and managed to lead into the bottom marks, followed by the chasing pack.
Up the next beat it was all about staying in pressure and finding the shifts, with the breeze slowly dropping the modes downwind became more marginal. Heavier teams had to drop into a soak down the middle while the lightweights who they’d left in their dust yesterday planned into the distance.
The third beat was more of the same with the opportunity to make significant gains by getting the right side of the shifts, heavyweights Mike and Ollie had managed to stay in touch on the run despite Mike falling out the boat again (another broken toe strap?) and managed to find some winners on the right to round in fourth.
Paul and Fresh kept the pressure on Tim and Heather, who managed to hold on for the win and the title, with Emma and Luke coming in Third and bringing the battle for the rest of the podium down to the wire.
RACE THREE
With the pressure off on the racecourse but on the competitors, it was a tense start line. The bias had switched to the boat end and it was important to get out of the traps quickly. Edd and Ian who were by this point either second or third started below the bunch and got off the line well with Paul and Fresh and Emma and Luke above them. More snakes and ladders up the first beat with the left always looking like it had a bit more pressure angles that made you want to go right. At the top Paul and Fresh had managed to get out ahead with Robin and Orla rounding just behind.
The wind had flicked right so after an early gybe we were laying the left end of a very large gate. It was a drag race from this point onwards. Peter and James had taken the first gybe out so they were at the top of the port takers trying to soak down onto the fleet, but an island-sized bit of weed stopped them in their tracks. After a bit of jostling, we all rounded now in the tail end of the 600 fleet who had started before us.
Emma and Luke managed to hook into a nice right-hander and made gains going out to the left-hand side while it remained very tight amongst those ducking and crossing on the right. They were second at the top behind Tim and Heather who had done a nice job of working the middle right.
The next run was more of the same with a long port gybe, but this time some extra pressure tempted some of the lighter teams into trying to heat it up, luckily for this heavy boy, it wasn’t quite on. The breeze from behind had compressed the fleet, though and it was very close for the top six or seven at the bottom.
We were now into the back of the 100 fleet who had started a lap after us. Paul and Fresh did well picking their way through and along with Edd and Ian were now challenging the leaders with the overall points looking super close.
The final run of the championship was a cagey one, with the last push to the finish after the bottom gate seeing some luffing and double gybes to get down to the line.
Emma and Luke crossed first, only to not get a hoot, their start had been a bit too good. This left Tim and Heather to take the bullet and seal the title in style. Paul and Fresh claimed second, which might have been enough to claw themselves onto the podium.
Once the scoring was done though, it was Emma and Luke who claimed second overall, then two points back Edd and Ian pipped Paul and Fresh for third on count back.
A close end to a brilliant four days of sailing in Mounts Bay which will be remembered for a long time both for the sailing and for the momentum it feels like there is in the class.
There is a new UK committee who have some big plans for the coming years. Almost 25% of the fleet were under 18 with the age profile of the class now looking more and more like the big European fleets.
We’ve got a Worlds next year in Travemünde where a big UK fleet will travel for the parties and the international sailing and then we’re going to bring it all back home with a UK Worlds in 2027. It’s a good time to be a 500 sailor!
Written by James Curtis
