Joey Taylor/ Terry Hacker – RS Feva National Champions 2019

A summary of the RS Feva Nationals by Team Allen sailors and recently crowned RS Feva National Champions. Joey and Terry. 

The RS Feva fleet headed to South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club, Abersoch, for their 2019 National Championships.  With a forecast of building winds through the 4 days of the regatta, Saturday morning was all about boat preparation and getting our heads in the right place for 4 days of the challenging racing the venue is known for.

We launched late morning with the aim of getting 3 races in on the day.  The winds were lighter and shiftier than expected, with a little bit of chop but no large swell.  With the 94 boat fleet split into 2 flights we were in the first start and headed right up the first beat rounding the windward mark in about 10^th.  After a lot of place changing, both up and down, we had a strong second beat ensuring we started the regatta with a safe 8^th position.  For the second and third races the fleet was getting more aggressive on the start line, we managed to avoid any black flags and posted a 7^th and 4^th to finish the day comfortably placed in 7^th overall.

Day 2 dawned and the predicted wind had arrived.  Start time was earlier and the beach was busy with sailors ensuring their boats were properly set up for a tough days racing.  On the water the chop had increased with a 15kt to 20kt steady North Westerly providing some testing conditions.  We set our stall out early with a great pin end start in the first race, getting to the windward mark in 2^nd before taking the lead on the first downwind.  Once ahead we increased our lead to the finish to get our first bullet of the championship.  Race 2 followed a similar pattern, but we were caught out by the wind dropping on the final run allowing the boat behind to ride a gust past us to the finish, with us a close 2^nd.  The wind dropped further for race 3, although the odd big gust was still around to keep the fleet on its toes.  After another good start we led all the way to the last mark, just losing out with a poor rounding to finish 2^nd.  These were the final races of the qualification series and posting a 1,2,2 for the day was enough to go into gold fleet leading the championship.

The following morning the nerves were beginning to show as we prepared to launch wearing the gold championship leaders race bibs.  This was probably the most pressure I have felt at an event, knowing that all the other teams would be looking for us and wanting the no 1 spot for themselves.  Our nerves were temporarily calmed after another good pin end start in the first race, unfortunately after tacking to cross the fleet we capsized and found ourselves back in about 30^th at the windward mark.  At this point we felt we had nothing to lose and with great boat speed both down and upwind we clawed ourselves back to 10^th at the finish.  We knew we needed a good result in the next race if we were going to be in contention for the overall win, and after winning the pin end again we made no mistakes posting a bullet by some distance.  We carried this form into the last race of the day finishing 2^nd leaving us 1^st overall overnight with a discard still to come.

Waking up on the final day the nerves were in full flight as we were coming to terms with having the opportunity to win the event.  Our Squiddies coaches were great in calming us down before racing and we began to feel a lot calmer once we launched.  Conditions were even windier than previous days but, with the waves, were great fun and really suited our style of sailing.  Our biggest concerns were black flags, protests and gear failure but we kept ourselves out of trouble, the boat stayed strong (thank you Allen for providing the fittings) and we put our nerves behind us to close out the championship with a 1,1,1 scoreline for the day.

Overall, we really enjoyed the regatta and the SCYC were fantastic hosts.  Terry and I worked really well together as a team and this definitely contributed to our win.  Next event for us is the Inlands at Rutland at the end of June before the Worlds in Italy in July.

Check out the RS Feva rigging guide by 2018 World Champion and Team Allen sailor Ben Hutton-Penman here.

Allen to support Finn World Masters

Allen Brothers is pleased to announce its sponsorship of the 2019 Finn World Masters, hosted by the Royal Danish Yacht Club in Copenhagen, Skovshoved, between the 7th and 14th June.

The Finn World Masters is a prestigious event which has been ongoing since 1970. Open to sailors above the age of 40, it is expected that around 250 Finn’s will descend upon this idyllic Danish port for the 2019 edition. The fleet will be split into different age categories: Master (40-49), Grand Master (50-59), Grand Grand Master (60-69), Legend (70 – 79) and Super Legend (80+). Whilst there is a wide range of ages attending the event, there will remain one thing in common, the love for Finn sailing in a friendly but competitive fleet.

Liz Adams, Managing Director of Allen Brothers, commented “The Finn has a huge international following, and although its now been dropped from the Olympics, I doubt that will ever change! Its great to be part of such a huge event and rather than awarding those at the front of the fleet, who no doubt have won their fair share over the years! We will be rewarding the competitors who finish bang in the middle of each race.”

Allen Brothers is awarding a very impressive haul of prizes for sailors finishing exactly middle of the fleet in every race. With a total of 56 potential winners, there is certainly going to be some happy faces once the week is through.

Allen Brothers have had a long relationship with the class, working closely with some of the leading class manufacturers they have designed and produced many of the custom hull fittings, booms, tillers etc. All of Allen Brothers hardware is designed, fabricated and distributed from its factory in Essex, UK. The company ensures all products are vigorously tested by its elite team of Olympic squad sailors. The company ensures race leading equipment by developing on the sailor’s feedback.

Allen Endurance Series Round 1 – Whitstable Forts Race

The weather for the weekend of the 18^th/19^th of May was forecast to be very light but that didn’t stop 28 fast catamaran and monohull dinghies from entering the first round of the Allen Endurance Series at Whitstable Yacht Club.

Whitstable Yacht Club, which is located on the South side of the Thames Estuary in a lovely fishing town with a fantastic sailing area, each year hosts the Whitstable Forts Race. A race out to the Maunsell Forts and back. The race also includes other points of interest around the coastline such as Herne Bay Pier.

Most of the competitors arrived Friday afternoon or early Saturday morning to rig and ready their race machines. Racing on Saturday was not scheduled to start until the relaxed time of 2PM giving everyone plenty of time to tinker and fill up on bacon rolls. The wind slowly filled in thanks to a sea breeze and racing soon got underway on a large windward leeward course set not too far from the shore.

Thanks to the sea breeze there was plenty of wind for some of the foiling boats to get up and go. With club racing also taking place alongside the forts shake down race there was plenty of action to watch out on the water! When Saturday’s racing was done, with some competitors glad for the shakedown race due to breakages, it was into the bar to await the result whilst making the most of the free pints and a BBQ put on by the club. Kyle Stoneham and Josy O’Brian (Vampire) took a convincing win with a corrected 25-minute lead to second place Grant Piggot and Simon Farren (F18).

Sunday morning looked a lot like most of the sailors who had been out in Whitstable the night before, gloomy and grey. After a short briefing explaining the days format and rules for taking part, paying special attention to tallying on and off (we wont name names), it was soon time to launch and head out to the start area with a steady 6 or 7knot North Easterly wind. The Fleet got away first time and headed North off the start out into the flooding tide. William Sunnucks/ Mark Self got to the forts first in their foiling Vampire followed by Kyle Stoneham/ Josy O’Brian in the other foiling Vampire. Not far behind was Nick Elmore/ Andrew Wood in their F20. First F18 (the largest fleet with 10 boats) to round the forts was Simon Northrup/ Caleb Cooper.

After rounding the forts, it was then a long downwind leg back to the start gate where Kyle/Josy managed to take the lead. After crossing through the start gate, the sailors could then head east to Herne Bay Pier. As a separate part of the race, the leg from the start gate to Herne Bay Pier and back classifies as the “Endurance Race” which includes the slower monohulls and single man catamarans. By the time the slower fleets had got half way along the leg back to the start gate the front markers in the fast cats soon went roaring past. By this point the wind was also starting to ease off. After a few more legs, out to some of the channel markers in the estuary, the race committee then decided to call it a day as the wind was looking like disappearing.

After a quick pack down, the race organisers held a prompt prize giving allowing those from further a-field to set off as soon as possible.

The full race is watchable online thanks to tracking supplied by SailRacer. Watch the race here.

The Allen Endurance Series combines 4 already well-established endurance events. The Whitstable Forts Race, Solent Forts Race, East Coast Piers Race and Isle Of Sheppey Round The Island Race. The winner of each event will claim a £100 Allen voucher whilst the top 3 boats in the overall standings after all 4 events will take home an additional £100, £200 and £500 Allen voucher respectively. The next event in the series is the Solent Forts Race taking place on the 8^th & 9^th June. Head over to allen.sailracer.org to enter online.

Results as follows:

Forts Race – leg from start line to Maunsell Forts and back. Fast Cats only.

1^st Kyle Stoneham & Josy O’Brian – Vampire – Corrected Time: 2:22:28

2^nd Will Sunnocks & Mark Self – Vampire – Corrected Time: 2:22:28

3^rd Tim Neal & Chris Neal – F18 – Corrected Time: 2:26:07

Endurance Race – Herne Bay Pier and back. All fleets.

1^st Kyle Stoneham & Josy O’Brian – Vampire – Corrected Time: 1:52:36

2^nd Will Sunnocks & Mark Self – Vampire – Corrected Time: 1:54:52

3^rd Nick Elmore & Andrew Wood – Nacra 20 – Corrected Time: 2:06:54

Full Endurance Race and Forts Race results below

Endurance Race

Forts Race

ALLEN ANNOUNCED AS SUPPORTING SPONSOR FOR 420 WORLDS

Allen selects new recipient for the Allen Academy Optimist

Another sailing season has started and with it the Allen Academy Optimist has also gone to a new home. This year’s lucky recipient of the Allen Academy Optimist is Patrick Bromilow of West Kirby Sailing Club.

The Allen Academy Optimist is a concept put together by Allen Brothers with the aim of promoting and helping grow youth sailing. Each year a deserving young sailor is awarded the boat with the hope it will help them take their sailing to the next level. The lucky recipient is awarded the 2016 built Ovington Hull which comes fully re-fitted with brand new Allen hardware as well as a full refit of rope kindly supplied by Marlow Ropes and a new sail this year supplied by One Sails.

When collecting the boat, Patrick aged 12, commented “I was really excited to find out that I was going to get the Allen Oppi for this year. I had seen it at events last year and thought it looked really cool. I can’t wait to use the new Allen AutoRatchet with the new Marlow mainsheet and get the boat set up the way I like to sail it. My dad is going to do some splicing on it with the Marlow Rope. I’m also really looking forward to using the new sail One Sails have provided, I’ve heard its really fast. The first event I will be racing with the new boat will be at the Inland Championships 18/19 May and I’m looking forward to taking it out in a big fleet. I’ve had a couple of practice days at my club in it and I think it’s a quick boat! Thank you, Allen, for giving me the boat to sail this year.”

The boat truly is race ready as Managing Director of Allen, Liz Adams, commented “This is the 4^th year we have given away the boat and each time it gives me great pleasure that we are able to help support a budding young sailor with this superb racing Optimist, hopefully, giving them the confidence to go on and race to their full potential.”

Previous winners of the Allen Academy Optimist include Quinn Edmonds, who has now moved out of Optimists and has had a successful season in the RS Feva and qualified for the RYA RS Feva Junior Squad. Nick Evans, another of the winners, is still sailing his own Optimist and has recently finished 4^th overall at the Braassemermeer Easter Regatta (1^st Brit).

One Sails has been chosen as the sail supplier of choice to the Optimist this year. The One Sails Optimist sail has won the last 3 World Championships in a row. The team at One Sails have also supplied Patrick with a tuning guide developed in conjunction with top Optimist coach Mauricio Bencic.

The rope on the Allen Academy Optimist was looking a bit worn at the end of last season so UK rope manufacturers Marlow Ropes have kindly stepped in to supply a top spec fit out for the mainsheet, sail ties, kicker and sprit halyard.

Joey Taylor Update

Terry and I started the winter with the RS Feva Winter Championships.  After 2 days of strong winds, we finished 4^th in a fleet of 60 boats – this was only our second event together in the Feva and we were really pleased with the result.  My next event was the Spring Championships at Draycote with a stand-in crew as Terry couldn’t make it.  This was a light and shifty event and we only really sailed near to our potential for the last 2 races.  Overall we came a disappointing 17^th out of 53.  The Burnham Grand Prix was my next event, again with a stand-in crew.  It was breezy both days and after a difficult first day, we improved a lot on the Sunday with two firsts and a third from some really close racing.  This meant we came 3^rd overall.

I have been training over the winter with the Burnham Squiddies in a mixture of conditions which has been a lot of fun.  I am training again with the Squiddies next weekend, with Terry crewing, and our next event is the Nationals at Abersoch at half term which we are really looking forward to.

I have also done some Oppie sailing over the winter, including the Spring Champs, the Easter Regatta at Braassemermeer and the Selections last weekend at Weymouth.  I have struggled this year as I am now right at the top of the weight range for the Oppie and have had to adjust my sailing technique because of this.  Also, most of my training over the winter was in the Feva and not the Oppie.  I think I probably will make the Flanders team in the Oppie but I haven’t decided yet whether I will do the regatta as it feels like it is time to move on and focus on the Feva.