The Solo Welsh championship was held at Tata Steel Sailing Club over the weekend of 12th and 13th October 2024. This was a rescheduled date from last April, when the event was postponed due to a hurricane passing over the country at the time. Visitors came from around the country with the furthest travellers coming from Scotland.
The first race was started on time with 19 sailors taking to the water.The wind was a NWesterly at a steady force 2 with gusts of force 3. There were a few boats over the line at the start who returned and soon made up their loss, with three boats breaking away from the fleet. The three front runners, Chris Brown, Jonathan Swain and Stephen Dickinson had quite a tussel with each other throughout the race with Jonathan Swain, S6055, winning closely followed by Chris Brown, S6074, in second place and Stephen Dickinson, S5835, taking third place.
There was a short break for lunch and then two races followed being sailed back to back.
The course was adjusted as the wind had backed WNW and increased to force 3 with gusts of force 4 to 5. Once again there were a couple of competitors being too eager and were over the line at the start having to return and restart. The first couple of laps saw a close race between Chris Brown, Charlie Nunn, Jonathan Swain and Roger Gibb. Chris Brown, S6074, was the first to finish with Jonathan Swain looking good to take second place but – disaster – he put the final tack in about 10 metres from the finish line only to capsize and in doing so allowing Roger Gibb, S6026, to take second place and Stuart Gibson, S5948 to take third place.
The third race on Saturday started under windier conditions with the wind now blowing a Force 4 with gusts of force 5 to 6. There were some retirements for this race but Monty Hampton ( Under 25 entrant) made a great start and led the field for a while. Once again there was close racing between Stuart Gibson, Chris Brown, Stephen Dickinson and Charlie Nunn.
Stuart managed to hold on to the lead each lap and was first over the finish line. Chris Brown held on to second for two laps but Charlie Nunn who was lying fourth at the end of the second lap managed to pull off second place at the finish with Chris Brown taking third.
Sunday morning proved to be a real tester for the Race Officer, Mike Radford, and his team with next to no wind on the lake.There was a short postponement with an early lunch while waiting for the wind to slowly increase, which it did but from an ESE direction. A new course was set and two races were sailed back to back now with 20 competitors.
Race 4 started with no recalls. Stephen Dickinson, S5835, pulled away from the rest of the fleet and kept this lead throughout the race taking first place. Second place went to Chris Brown, S6074, and in third place was Roger Gibb, S6026. Mention must be made of Monty Hampton, S6053, (Under 25) holding on to fourth place under very trying conditions.
Race 5 was started but there was a large wind shift to Easterly. The windward mark was moved to Port with the appropriate signals given at the Committee boat. Steve Roberts, S6121, lead for most of the race but at one point Chris Brown, S6074, managed to get in front only to lose it again. The final result was Steve Roberts first, Stephen Dickinson managed to move up to second with Chris Brown taking third place. Jason Taylor, a Tata Steel S C member in a borrowed Solo, S4780, took the fourth spot.
Chris Brown’s consistency earned him the Welsh Championship, with Stephen Dickinson second and Stuart Gibson third. Maria Francon was the 1st Lady Helm, and Monty Hampton, the Under 25 champion. Roger Gibb took the Veteran title, with Tony Thresher the Grandmaster and Graham Don the Septimus.
The prizegiving followed soon afterwards with the Solo Welsh Championship prizes being presented by Linda Ingram, Commodore at Tata Steel Sailing Club, and with Charlie Nunn of GOAT Marine sponsoring and presenting some GOAT Marine prizes.
A big thank you must go to the Commodore, Vice Commodore, the PRO and his assistants, the safety boat crews, the shore based helpers and the Ladies in the Galley for making the event such a success.
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