18 sailors took to the water on Saturday 15 May for the 2021 edition of the BVI Dinghy Championships and 4 new National Champions were crowned .

It was a tricky day on the water for everyone. As squalls danced their way down the channel the mark boat team were kept busy shifting the marks to keep the race track stable and the sailors were kept on their toes to make the best tactical decisions.

In the Laser Radial class, Max Reshetiloff claimed a clean sweep of first place finishes to take his first title in the class. In second place was Dwayne Palmer and in third place, competing at her first ever regatta, Marentia de Villiers.

The RS Feva class mixed things up with all three crews wining at least one race. The first race went to Eddie & Ashley Brockbank, Kael Chalwell and Nici Haycraft snagged the next three whilst Victoria Rowlette and Savion James clinched the final two. Overall Chalwell and Haycraft took the win on 8 points, the Brockbanks were second and Rowlette and James, who shared the helming duties through the day, came in third.

The Optimist fleet was unfortunately just two boats. A big well done goes to Jake Richardson who began learning to sail less than a year ago and was competing in his first ever regatta. The overall winner was Zaed Chalwell.

Seven boats competed in a very competitive Laser class with all sailors posting mixed results, it clearly showed that consistency pays. The overall winner was Colin Ratbun who took the bullet in four of the six races. Adding a third from the final race he finished with 7 points. In second place was the winner of race one who didn’t count a finish below third, Sam Talbot.

Coming home third was the the winner of the final race, Ollie Alsop who added two seconds, a fourth and a sixth to his final tally. Fourth place was Mike Hirst, just one point back from Alsop. Graham Stanton came in fifth, Samuel Allen sixth and Chris Haycraft seventh.

Some very tired sailors came off the water with the winners presented with unique BVI made model boat trophies. The winners in each class will be added to the perpetual trophy on display at the Yacht Club.

For Facebook account holders, click here for more photos and click here for a video from Dean ‘The Sportsman’ Greenaway.

Results
Laser

1. Colin Rathbun – 7pts
2. Sam Talbot – 11 pts
3. Ollie Alsop – 15 pts
4. Mike Hirst – 16 pts
5. Graham Stanton – 23 pts
6. Samuel Allen – 24 pts
7. Chris Haycraft – 29 pts

Laser Radial

1. Max Reshetiloff – 5 pts
2. Dwayne Palmer – 11 pts
3. Marentia de Villiers – 14 pts

RS Feva

1. Kael Chalwell & Nici Haycraft – 8 pts
2. Eddie & Ashley Brockbank – 9 pts
3. Victoria Rowlette & Savion James – 11 pts

Optimist

1. Zaed Chalwell
2. Jake Richardson