Turner smokes J24 Nationals in Weymouth UK

The Weymouth Olympic Sailing Center hosted their annual Weymouth Regatta that included the J/24 UK National Championship.  The organizers were blessed with beautiful weather, gorgeous breezes both days of racing for all.  The J/24s showed up en-masse ready to do battle to determine the 2011 UK champion– several veterans showed up that included past J/24 UK Champions, like Stuart Jardine from Royal Lymington YC.

After the first days racing in the steady breezes punctuated by long wind streaks, it was self-evident that one team simply had everything dialed in to go fast, stay out of trouble and show their transom to the rest of the fleet.  By day’s end, Bob Turner’s SERCO from Castle Cove SC simply smoked the competition, starting off with three bullets and a second to lead by a large margin.  Nipping at their heels and still within striking distance was Mark Penfold from the RYA sailed RELOADED.  

J/24 one-design sailboats- sailing off Weymouth, EnglandThe second day of sailing again dawned with good weather and a nice breeze from the southerly quadrants.  Again, Turner’s SERCO team stepped on the gas pedal, dialed in a 1-2 for the first two races, then simply coasted home in the last two races with a  7-6  to win with 14 points.  Brilliant sailing is an adjective that comes to mind to describe their remarkable, somewhat sparkling performance!  Maintaining their second position was Mark Penfold’s team on RELOADED, finishing with 20 points.  A perennial class leader, Stuart Jardine from  RLYC sailed his latest generation J/24 STOUCHE to a strong third, narrowly missing out second by one point!  Fourth was Darren Stansbury  from Saltash SC with 30 points and fifth was Roger Morris on JOLLY ROGER from Parkstone SC  Sailing photo credits- UK Fotoboat.com [Excerpt from Jboats newsletter]