Visiting boats arrived at Cardiff on Wednesday 6^th June to bright sunshine and the stunning panorama of the Cardiff Bay and Barrage. The Cardiff Bay Harbour Authority lifted in the boats across the bay from the yacht club in an efficient and friendly manner and the presence of the yacht clubs commodore to ensure all was going according to plan and therefore set the scene for how the rest of the championship was run. Teams of home sailors were on hand to help the visitors erect their mast. By the time of the briefing at 7.30 all were ready, weighed in and scrutinized. Chief Race Officer Mike Pearson set out the plans for racing and even local experts were on hand to explain the tides.

Thursday morning dawned cloudy but with more breeze than was forecast. Boats locked out in barrage slots which had been pre-booked. Out on the race course the neap tides and racing planned around a couple of hours either side of high tide saw tidal streams no worse that the Solent and the second of the three races were held in slack water.

Race One started without incident despite the tide pushing the fleet over the line. A North Westerly of 12 -15 knots and wind over tide gave some reasonable waves to surf down. Jenga Trois (Paul and Marie Claude Heys) set out their intentions leading almost from the off. Ian Atkins in Boats.com was second and Steve Cooper from the home club was getting rewarded for all his hard work in organizing the championships with a third place in Junior High.

With the slackening tide Race Two was held in flatter water and slightly less breeze and despite Jenga Trois having a broken outhaul just before the start they pulled through to second. Peter Henney in Nemo had a great race winning by some margin and showing the boat speed they have been building over the last year. Iwan Basten sailing Plas Menai (one of the four Cardiff Bay Racing boats) came third.

Race Three race saw the tide start to ebb and the breeze drop and the ever professional Jenga team changed the rig settings and showed the benefit of changing gears by again heading the fleet almost from the off to win. Junior High was second and another Cardiff boat, Red Sky, sailed by Nick Sawyer was third. One of the advantages of having to work around the tides in the Bristol Channel is the fact that the fleet was not late back in.

The evening reception was hosted by the Cardiff Bay Authority at the Norwegian Church next to Mermaid Quay at the heart of the newly developed Cardiff waterfront and daily prizes donated by Nexus Marine were awarded. The end of the day saw Jenga Trois in the lead overall with the team from Junior High delighted to be in second and Boats.com third. The crew from Nemo were also looking to having a good regatta in fourth.

Friday had less wind with a foggy start but with the sun coming out in the middle of the day. Race Four started in six knots of wind and Nemo paid for an overeager start with an OCS. Although physically able to restart was they were unable to recover. The lighter weather did not affect the out come; the winner being Jenga Trois. Second was Simon Thomas and Scott Cole in Purple Haze; now starting to put together an impressively consistent series. Boats.com was third.

Race Five was held in slack water and stable but light breeze again 4- 6 knots. Junior High saw his chances fade with an OCS but the rest of the fleet got away at the first attempt. Jenga Trios again won with Boats.com second and a new face at the front of the fleet, John McLaren in Jimini, from Salcombe, in third.

Mike Pearson decided to run Race Six despite the ebb now starting to run. The committee boat end of the line got rather crowded with the tide pushing the fleet up onto the committee boat but the fleet still got away first time. The tide produced rather one sided beats and runs but there were still plenty of opportunities for overtaking. Red Sky won from Jenga Trios and Peter Blackler sailing Royal Castle Hotel Dartmouth came in third. After the daily prizegiving with goodies again donated by Nexus Marine and J Boats, the club hosted a barbeque in the warm evening sunshine.

Locking out was to be later on the Saturday, which allowed the early morning mist to clear and bright warm sunshine to appear; unfortunately any wind that there was disappeared with the sun. Mike Pearson was going to hold out until 1pm but the fleet voted with their engines and the racing was abandoned for the day. The helpfulness of the club did not end there with teams speeding into action to get the masts down and then the yard crew getting over half of the boats out on the club slipway when it had been planned to get everybody out on the Sunday.

The prizegiving dinner demonstrated that catering was also up to scratch with an excellent meal with Welsh produce to the fore. Jonas Magner, the European Sales Manager from Nexus Marine who had come to support the whole event produced the funniest award ceremony most of us had ever seen.

Paul and Marie Claude Heys won the title with a quite breathtaking display. Ian Atkins came second showing skills taken from the 1720 were not amiss in the J/80 and Simon Thomas and Scott Cole held up the honours of the home club in third. North Sails took the top three positions but other sailmakers had their day with the UK sails looking good. Paul and Marie-Claude reopened the Dacron versus Kevlar jib debate again but it was also apparent that changing gears and getting the right rig settings for the conditions was also vitally important.

Many people felt that this was the most friendly and well organized national event that they had ever been to. The sponsor Nexus Marine delivered and exceeded all expectations and Cardiff Harbour Authority should be thanked for their support. Steve Cooper and the Cardiff Bay Yacht Club certainly deserve more championships and next year the team to host the Nationals in Plymouth has a lot to live up to. The next event is the world championships in La Trinité-sur-Mer in West Brittany where 120 boats are expected.

1^st Jenga Trois Warsash Sailing Club Paul and Marie Claude Heys

2^nd Boats.com Hillhead Sailing Club Ian Atkins

3^rd Purple Haze Cardiff Bay Yacht Club Simon Thomas and Scott Cole