Feva’d fifty fresh for first foray…

The RS Feva class attracted a stunning entry of 51 boats for the inaugural National Championships held at Hayling Island SC at the beginning of August.

7 races were held both inside the harbour and out in Hayling bay. In it’s first year the RS Feva has attracted a fantastic mix of competitor, from the undoubted young stars of our sport to families hitting the race track for the first time.

With very little pecking order existing in the class, there was a great air of expectation over the first few races, and no one expected the domination that unfolded. No strangers to winning races however, team GBR Optimist sailors Ben and Tim Saxton from Grafham Water SC walked away worthy victors. Counting five wins and a third, and discarding a fifth in the last race, these 13 yr old twins had lifted the first Feva Championship with a race to spare.

Second place ended up a tussle between HISC sailors Alec Henry / Henry Maxfield, and Sophie Weguelin / Imogen Stanley from Lymington. The local boys were ultra consistent throughout, counting 2,2,3,4,4,5, getting the better of the girls on the last day. Sophie and Imogen , counting 1,2,4,4,5,6, at least had the satisfaction of a win in race four, in the stongest breeze, maybe 12-14 knots, which produced a stunning tussle with 5 boats crossing the line in 5 seconds!

Fourth place overall went to local harbour sailors Frances Peters and Olivia Pettit. Recovering from 3 mediocre results to start with, Frances and Olivia ended the regatta with 4,3,3,1, enjoying a comfortable margin to win the last.

Of special note was the performance of leading juniors James Peters, still only 10, and Peter Henry (12) who scored 2,3,4,4,9,12, for fifth overall. James and Peter, from HISC, have not yet enjoyed the benefits of RYA or Optimist squad training, and are a great example for those keen youngsters practicing at local clubs, and no doubt a force to be reckoned with in future years.

In sixth overall, and undoubtedly disappointed with their result, were South zone Champs winners Maria Stanley and Hannah Diamond. Maria, fresh from coming 8th at the Optimist Girls Europeans and Hannah must surely have been one of the favourites, but scored 2,6,6,8,9,13.

Winners of the family prize were Sam and Caroline Maxfield, in 7th overall. 420 helm Sam stepped into to helm for his less experienced mother, but lacked consistency in the light after top scoring 2,3,3 on the Saturday. He was guarded when questioned about his mothers prowess on the kite halliard!

Five of the 51 boats were sailed singlehanded, and the leading boat here was class coach Lana Driscoll, who concluded that a Jib was a key boatspeed accessory! In future the class will consider a separate start for the singlehanded main / spinnaker option. Interesting statistics are that the average age of the top 7 was 14, and exactly a third of the boats included an adult. Crew weights in the top ten varied from 76kg to 110 kg in this predominantly light regatta. The class looks forward to some class coaching through the autumn, and the Inlands at Grafham in September.

Overall Results:

 

Pos Sail No Helm Crew Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Pts
1 399 Ben Saxton Tim Saxton Grafham Water 1 1 1 3 1 1 5 8
2 300 Alec Henry Henry Maxfield HISC 8 2 4 5 4 2 3 20
3 241 Sophie Weguelin Imogen Stanley Lymington/Bowmoor 4 4 10 1 5 6 2 22
4 237 Frances Peters Oliver Pettit HISC/Bosham 9 8 11 4 3 3 1 28
5 13 James Peters Peter Henry HiSC 3 9 12 51 2 4 4 34
6 259 Maria Stannley Hannah Diamond Bowmoor 2 28 9 6 8 13 6 44
7 362 Sam Maxfield Caroline Maxfield HISC 12 3 3 2 17 10 15 45
8 375 Sarah Smith Amelia Sloper Chichester 11 5 7 11 20 8 12 54
9 8 Oliver White Adrian Clay Papercourt/Wraysbury 5 10 14 10 13 22 51 74
10 358 Tim Polglase Katie Polglase HISC 10 16 18 16 7 7 20 74
11 253 Simon Barker Chris Archer Norfolk 6 13 23 26 12 11 13 78
12 320 Alex Ekstrom Sarah Tessler Bosham 22 7 13 51 14 16 10 82
13 345 Bill Tucker Holly Tucker Emsworth 16 12 15 8 19 12 19 82
14 401 Jack Norton Suzanne Russell Oxford 15 11 5 14 25 21 23 89
15 196 Guy Ellis Hamish Ellis Emsworth 18 17 27 15 10 15 14 89
16 52 Stuart Godwin Matthew Tite HISC 21 6 8 9 51 31 16 91
17 254 Thomas Barker Danel Henderson Norfolk 14 26 22 18 22 9 7 92
18 391 Oliver Sloper Aaron Smith Chichester 13 22 21 21 23 14 8 99
19 151 James Ponsford Mattie Ponsford Chichester 20 19 19 37 6 18 18 100
20 101 Kate Peters Robert White HISC/Papercourt 23 18 26 12 51 17 11 107
21 374 Simon Kitchen Harriet Marsden Chichester 24 14 42 30 18 20 9 115
22 203 Charlie Poyner Alastair Hales Emsworth 19 20 24 19 21 28 25 128
23 364 Annabel Pettit Tim Pettit Bosham 28 36 17 17 16 26 26 130
24 402 Nikki Russell Peter Sands Oxforld 51 24 25 25 15 23 21 133
25 403 Andrew Streeter Alexis Streeter HISC 26 15 16 7 24 51 51 139
26 240 Robyn Stock Sophia Parkinson Lymington/Guernsey 17 21 29 29 28 27 24 146
27 178 James Jenkins Pippa Jenkins Emsworth 51 39 6 13 32 40 27 157
28 302 Harry Allerston Tom Jeffreys Emsworth 27 27 37 24 31 24 30 163
29 6 Adam McMenemy Oliver Spensley-Corfield HISC/Langstone 31 23 31 22 33 30 51 170
30 257 Tom Levick Harry Levick Carsington 41 33 30 35 11 34 32 175
31 7 Katie Tessler Pip Holloway Bosham/Burghfield 34 32 41 38 51 19 17 181
32 308 Jamie Hitchcock Max Easton HiSC 39 31 35 31 30 32 22 181
33 56 Lana Driscoll HISC 35 35 20 20 26 51 51 187
34 194 Robert Richardson Sam Logan Emsworth 29 25 28 28 51 38 51 199
35 304 David Watson Fraye Watson HISC 42 40 39 34 34 25 29 201
36 182 Simon Caird Edward Gilsenab Felpham 30 30 33 23 51 35 51 202
37 397 Sam Johnson Tim Borrill Poole 25 37 36 32 51 39 33 202
38 404 Jenna Peters Ed Peters Ripon 32 43 40 51 29 37 28 209
39 239 Michael Lennon Patrick White HISC 7 51 2 51 51 51 51 213
40 93 Stella Cross Fiona Cross Weirwood 40 41 38 39 27 29 51 214
41 117 Paul Handley Alasdair Handley Chipstead 51 51 51 51 9 5 51 218
42 211 Paul Matthews Bexhill-on-sea 43 44 44 36 36 36 31 226
43 51 Martyn Laxton Shaldon 38 34 32 33 51 51 51 239
44 50 David Bayliss Shaldon 51 29 34 27 51 51 51 243
45 301 Henry Message Daniel Marsh HISC 44 51 51 51 35 33 51 265
46 332 Nicholas Lowe Vanessa Lowe Hamble River 37 42 43 51 51 51 51 275
47 306 Carol Fiddaman HISC 51 38 45 40 51 51 51 276
48 5 Michael Essex Jonathan Essex Hythe & Saltwood 33 51 51 51 51 51 51 288
49 350 Simon Hill Michael Hill HISC 36 51 51 51 51 51 51 291
50 238 Riki Hodder Bexhill 51 51 51 51 51 51 51 306