Events

by Keith Callaghan published in Yachts & Yachting on 18 November 2018

The H2 Inland Championship were held at Draycote Water SC on Saturday, November 17th. The event was held in conjunction with day one of the Draycote Dash – the first of the Selden SailJuice Winter Series events for 2018/19.
The H2s were the largest class in the medium fleet. Four races were sailed in brilliant sunshine, tempered by a chilly easterly light to moderate breeze. The big question was whether South Cerney SC member and H2 Class Chairman Richard Leftley had enough breeze to propel his 95kg frame around the course quicker than the lighter helms. Richard had finished third at this year’s National Championships, showing unbeatable speed to windward and, sure enough, he was first at the windward mark in every race. Simon Hipkin, James Oxley, and particularly Dave Barker successfully closed the gap on him on the off-wind legs, only for Richard to squirt away again upwind. Richard made a clean sweep of all four races, but competition was very close in the pursuing pack. Dave and Simon tied on points but the discard worked in Dave’s favour for a well deserved second place. James Oxley, a clubmate of Simon’s, borrowed a boat to finish a creditable 4th. As is usual with major H2 events, every competitor received a prize. As a regular spectator at H2 events I have observed a distinct increase in boat speed throughout the fleet over the last year, thanks to a great training day by Jim Hunt and also the increased opportunities for boat on boat competition. South Cerney SC now have six H2s at the club and the regular competition has no doubt increased Richard’s performance. The Hadron H2 Class Association thanks the SailJuice Series organisers and Draycote Water SC for hosting this event.

Overall Results:

Pos Sail No Helm R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts
1 115 Richard Leftley 1 1 1 1 3
2 113 Dave Barker 3 4 2 3 8
3 131 Simon Hipkin 2 3 3 6 8
4 136 James Oxley 5 2 6 2 9
5 103 Geoff Parker 4 5 4 4 12
6 102 Ian Little 6 7 5 5 16
7 127 Chris Brown DNC 5 DNC DNC 23
8 126 Alistair Glen DNC DNC DNC DNC 27
Hadron H2 Inlands at Draycote - photo © Keith Callaghan
Events

The H2 class association will be at the 2019 RYA Dinghy Show which takes place on 2nd & 3rd March at Alexandra Palace in London. The show is the UK’s premier dinghy sailing event and it will be an opportunity to see the boat and talk with a range of current owners about their experience of owning the H2. Please do come along and visit us!

More details: https://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/Ds-19-dates.aspx

Events

Our 2018 Inland Championship will be held on Saturday 17th November at Draycote (http://draycotewater.co.uk/) in conjunction with the Selden SailJuice Winter Series “Fernhurst Books Draycote Dash”. The H2s will start as part of the main fleet and all races on the Saturday will count toward the Inland Championship; the optional pursuit race on Sunday 18th can be sailed but will not count toward the championship.

Please do enter for the Draycote Dash via the organisers website as entries are now open

Image result for hadron h2 draycote dash

Events

UPDATE 12/10/2018: Event cancelled due to weather forecast

Our next open meeting is scheduled to be held on Saturday 13th October at South Cerney Sailing Club (https://southcerneysailingclub.org.uk/) in the beautiful Cotswolds.  South Cerney has a growing fleet of six H2s at the moment and we look forward to welcoming as many travelling boats as can make it. The Open will consist of four races of 45 minutes each with the first race starting at 11am and two races sailed back-to-back in the morning and two more after lunch. Please do contact Richard Leftley for more details about the event or visit the H2 Facebook page.

We will update this page with more details in the coming days with regard how to enter and logistics for the event.

Notice of Race: SCSC H2 Notice of Race 2018

Changes to SI: SCSC H2 Open changes to sailing instructions 2018

 

Events

This year’s championships took place at Herne Bay SC, Kent, from 7th to 9th September, the full report from Yachts and Yachting.

The third and final day of the Hadron H2 National Championships at Herne Bay SC dawned with a light SSW breeze which steadily increased to 18 knots at times. As on the previous day, the RO opted for a triangular course for races 6 and 7 of the series.

Ian Sanderson’s three wins on the previous day had made him almost unassailable for the championship – but not quite. If second placed Alistair Glen could win both remaining races, with Ian DTP in both, then he might just do it. Alistair set to with a will and his H2 creamed around the course with full intent, flying from wave top to wave top in the short seas. He succeeded in his goal, but Ian was at his heels and finished in second place, thus becoming H2 National Champion. Dave Barker, one of the lighter H2 helms, was also having a great day and came in third. Class chairman Dick Holden found his old form after reconfiguring his spreaders and came home fourth with Richard Leftley in fifth.

And so on to the final race. It might have been an anti-climax after the decisive previous race but it turned out to be a very close race indeed as all competitors were now fully used to the brisk conditions and were determined to give of their best. By some coincidence, the first four places were taken by the overall leaders – in the correct order – Richard Leftley in third and Michael Alexander scoring a fourth place to retain over all fourth – just as last year. The next group of contenders were very close indeed, places 5 to 10 being separated by only 5 points. Dick Holden scraped a seventh in this last race to lead the pack over all.

And so after nearly six hours of racing over 3 days, a dozen and a half rather tired competitors made for shore to de-rig their boats and prepare for the journey home – two of them returning to Scotland.

At last year’s champs, Ian Sanderson was involved in a titanic struggle for number one spot with Paul Smalley. Paul won by the smallest of margins, but this year Ian became the deserved winner of the Harold Smith Championship Trophy – congratulations, Ian, from us all.

But of course there was one more event to come – the prizegiving. Every competitor received a prize, sponsored by Hadron Dinghies, and the top three also received vouchers from Allen Brothers. In addition, there were special prizes for the first helm in the following categories:

Mid life crisis – Age 55-64: Alistair Glen

Prime of life – Age 65-70: Ian Dawson

Super grand-daddy – Age over 70: Kevin Connolly

Too light to sail an H2? – definitely not! (weight under 75kg): Ian Dawson again (he is a healthy but sadly uncommon combination of old and light)

Battlecruiser weight (over 95kg) – Richard Leftley (NB, definitely no flab – all muscle muscle and bone!)

There was also a special accolade for Julian Hines’ Hadron H1, which competed as a special guest of the H2 class. (The H1 is the plywood precurser to the H2 and Julian’s boat was beautifully built by Simon Hipkin a few years ago). The boat sported a striking new flat top mainsail by Ian Morgan.

Special thanks went to Dougal Henshall and his race crew for their impeccable management of the races, carried out in variable conditions of wind and wave.

There was unanimous acclaim for the 57 volunteers from Herne Bay SC who willingly gave of their time to organise the wonderful meals and refreshments, man the rescue boats and race boat, manage the boats ashore and recover them after the racing, and all of the many other things that are necessary to make a successful championship. 57 people – that 3.5 volunteers for each competitor! Thank you, every one – we would love to come back soon if you will have us!