Tasar Nationals at Babbacombe Corinthian Sailing Club

46 Tasars for the nationals at Babbacombe © Heather Davies / www.fotoboat.com

46 Tasars for the nationals at Babbacombe © Heather Davies / www.fotoboat.com

When the 46 Tasars launched off Oddicombe Beach in Babbacombe for the 1st race of the Tasar Nationals not one of them could imagine what a good weekend it would turn out to be! After 8 races over three days Ben Nicholas and Lucy Montgomery emerged as the new National Champions over one of the biggest Nationals fleets in the Tasar’s History.

Babbacombe Corinthian SC provided an excellent 3-day national championship with two races being held on day one with the visiting World President of George Motoyoshi with Mahoro Sekiguchi from Japan winning race 1 followed by, Constandine Udo and Jan Slotemaker of Holland winning the 2nd race. Rob Dangerfield and Claire Ellis and Tim and Mayumi Knight were in close contention for both races. All the competitors enjoyed a curry in the main clubhouse in the evening before heading off for a well earned rest.

Competitors arriving to the beach on day 2 had the welcoming sight of big winds and big waves; all was set for a great day! With the help of great race management, 4 races were sailed back to back. Ben Nicholas and Lucy Montgomery recorded three race wins with Neil Spacagna and Chris Martin and Pete Ellis and Charlotte Birbeck in close contention for two of the races. Malcolm Davies and Chris Noakes kept close to the front all day, recording a consistent set of top 5 results to move them towards the front of the fleet. The visiting Japanese team also picked up a race win to put them towards the top of the leader board. The wind started off at a healthy force 4, dropping down to very little during race 3 of the day leaving an awkward sea but picking up again towards the final race of the day.

Other notable performances on Day 2 included John Lawton and Kevin Baker leading the fleet around the first lap before capsizing to windward on coming up to the leeward mark. All the way from Scotland Colin Tait and young son Callum put in a good performance in race 1 for the Saturday finishing 4th and past National Champion Steve Mitchell sailing with Charlotte Mather also made a welcome appearance at the front of the fleet. The free bottle of lager at the end of the race day as each boat came ashore was most welcomed and completed a fine days sailing. Another meal in the clubhouse was combined with a raffle of over £300 worth of prizes generously contributed by Gill and Sailsport.

The final days sailing was set to be close. The previous day’s races had seen the leading boats finish within seconds of each other and the final day was to be no different. A perfect force 3 – 4 with waves and sunshine, set the scene. The three teams of Nicholas/Montgomery, Davies/Noakes and Spacagna/Martin wouldn’t let anyone else get into the top three, although it wasn’t made easy for them with much place changing. Going into the last race 1st and 2nd place had been guaranteed with 4 boats all on equal points fighting for third position. The final race ended with the wind picking up for a screaming final reach in big waves all the way to the finish – these were the type of conditions the Tasar was designed for all those years ago!

A superb finish to a great weekend! A worthy national champion, whose prize was a free container space to represent the class and Great Britain at the next worlds in Thailand. They will also be joined by 6 out of the top 7 boats; making them an extremely strong team for July 2007!

In the year of the Tasars 30th birthday the class is still a truly vibrant and competitive class. We all are looking forward to another year of extremely close racing around all parts of Britain. Many thanks to supporters of the event especially Westcountry Tooling and Signal Locker.

Overall Results: