Police Sport UK Offshore Sailing Championships 2019

A report from Nick Mason on the week's regatta

 

 PSUK Championships 2019

This year the PSUK Sailing Championships were incorporated into the National Crime Agency Regatta from 23rd to 27th September and hosted by the Island Sailing Club at Cowes.

18 boats competed in the event of which 7 from the MPS, Leicestershire, Hampshire, Cleveland, Cambridge , Devon & Cornwall and Sussex Constabularies were eligible for the PSUK Championship.

The competitors were based at West Cowes Marina on the Isle of Wight and sailed a matched fleet of Oceanis 37’ yachts chartered from Fairview Marina on the Hamble River.

A practice race was scheduled for the Monday but strong winds put paid to that. A further 8 races were scheduled for the week and the event actually got off to a start on the Tuesday with 2 races in strong winds and rain. The MPSC team achieved a 3rd and 1st place.

Dark skies for the Racing Fleet


The Wednesday morning bought more high winds with 2 races scheduled. The Race Committee did well to get one race in but due to the wind conditions the second race of the day was abandoned with the MPSC crew finishing in 4th place in the only race of the day.

The highlight of the Wednesday evening was a different form of sailing. Neil Peters (aka ‘Stick Daring’), a friend of the MPSC Skipper Nick Mason arrived in Cowes late in the evening on his 14’ Laser Sailing Dinghy, an ex-Ministry of Defence boat. Neil was 2 days from home following a circum-navigation of the United Kingdom, an immense feat given the size of his boat and the severe weather conditions everyone had been experiencing.



Neil Peters on his Laser Dinghy

 


The Thursday morning bought further dreadful conditions with high winds and driving rain. Three races were scheduled for the day but again, because of the conditions, only one race was achieved with the MPSC boat finishing in 7th place.

Given the conditions, there was no racing on the Friday so the final standings were as follows:-

Race Results
Pos Sail Number Name Helm Force Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 6 Net Pts
          24 Sep 24 Sep 25 Sep 26 Sep  
1 GBR2935L Vis a Vis     1 2 2 1 6
2 GBR 2326L Fleur de Lis     2 5 1 3 11
3 GBR2933L Protégé Nick Mason MPSC 3 1 4 7 15
4 GBR 2742L GSC_Modernistic Lady Senan Lynch Leicestershire 5 4 3 6 18
5 GBR 3321L GSC_Mon Dilemme Andrew Buchanan Hampshire 7 3 6 4 20
6 GBR 2743L C'est Si Bon Tony Riordan Cleveland 4 6 7 5 22
7 GBR 1961L Carte Blanche     11 10 5 2 28
8 GBR 2327L D'Artagnan     8 9 8 8 33
9 GBR1965L Mon Ami Mick Birchill Cambridge 9 7 11 12 39
10 GBR 2325L Apres Le Vent     6 14 10 13 43
11 GBR2934L Soiree Graham Higginson Devon & Cornwall 10 8 12 17/DNS 47
12 GBR 2324L Faux Pas     12 12 14 15 53
13 GBR 1963L Avant Garde     17 15 13 9 54
14 GBR 1962L Creme De La Creme     14 13 17/DNF 11 55
15 GBR2744L Tres Jolie     15 11 15 14 55
16 GBR1960L Par Excellence Alwyn Evans Sussex 19/DSQ 19/DNC 9 10 57
17 GBR 1966L Femme Fatale     13 18/DNF 19/DNC 19/DNC 69
18 GBR 1964L Mange Tout     16 18/DNF 19/DNC 19/DNC 72
Those yachts highlighted in blue denote competitors in this year's PSUK Offshore Sailing Championships

For 2020 Nick Mason's team are looking forward to supporting The Police World Sailing Championships based in Croatia - an event they have won previously.