07/08/2026
Following the 2025 Vane A class Nationals in Gosport, the past 12 months have been busy designing and building a new boat for this years Championships, held a week ago at Fleetwood.
A couple of test sails at Birkenhead meant for little over the first couple of days as lower suit sails were used by all in the challenging conditions. Both upwind and downwind the boat was reacting well to its sail trim and vane settings. We learned early that that the design was happy with a little more power than our first up conservative sail choices, especially on the downwind legs where under the right sized spinnaker and vane angle it showed some good form.
By the mid week Nationals break to host the ‘Yachting Monthly Cup’ the wind softened enough to allow full area sails. Drawn in a 5 boat group we did well to tie for the chance to make the finals, only losing out on a resail. A lack of understanding our setup to be able to gye the boat consistanly was our downfall when in control of a couple of heats but the performance of the boat against known designs was again encouraging.
Unfortunately the YM Cup would be our last racing day as a leg injury masked largely through pain medication reached a level of needing medical attention. A calf muscle tear was determined so our event came to a sudden halt.
We left disappointed in not finishing what was a thoroughly enjoyable week, but look forward to getting the boat sailing again at future events. We have so much still to learn about the boat and how to sail it to its potential.
A big thanks to the Fleetwood club and its members that as always deliver with each and every event they host. Also to our fellow competitors a big thanks you for your encouragement and assistance in getting us and fellow competitors up and down the course. Vane racing really is unique to any form of sailing where near all offer to asist chase, catch and re-trim boats to get everyone through to the end of an event.
Congratulations to the winners in Chris and Graham for the Nationals and Russell and Lewis for the YM Cup.
Totally hooked and can’t wait for the next one!
Cheers
Brad and Victoria
