2003 40th Anniversary National Championships at South Caernarvonshire YC

The 40th Mirror National Championships took place at South Caernarvonshire YC, Abersoch in the week Sat 26 July to Fri 1 August. Impeccable organisation by Mike and Nicky Crompton made this one of the most popular Mirror Nationals, benefiting also from the generous sponsorship of Henri Lloyd, Vimto, Halliwell Landau Solicitors, the Yorkshire Building Society and Speed Sails. Fourteen-year old Dan Ellis was crowned with his brother James as possibly the youngest ever National Champion in a week that had winds to test much older and stronger of the 87 teams that entered.

(editors note: There are a couple of hundred digital photos of this event. They each have a sequence number, but no embedded date or timestamp. We have the race & socal programme, so know what was scheduled for each day. We also know the schedule was changed with only two single handed races and two races, rather than one, on the final Friday. I have split the photos up in sequence based on what the weather is like, and what appears to be happening. If you have a better idea, please let me know)

This first set (above) is, I think, the Practice Race on the Sunday.

Sunday's practice race was held in perfect wind and sunshine giving Turtle Photography a rare chance in the week to capture the Garda like backdrop of Llanbedrog Head as Craig Bond set off on a port flier to initially lead the race. As Southern Area Champion and a stalwart of the Mirror class, Craig won one race during the week en route with son Mitchell to third overall.

This second set is, I think, races 1 & 2 on the Monday.

Dan Ellis won the first race and then went on to score two more bullets, a second and a third leaving him in a strong position going into the last three races.

This third set is, I think, race 3 on the Tuesday.

This forth set is, I think, race 4 on the Wednesday.

By then the fleet had experienced severe wind and rain that resulted in only one race being run on each of two days but making for some spectacular downwind sailing.

This fifth set is, I think, race 5 & 6 on the Thursday.

Disaster struck in race six of the eight race series with Ellis' plastic clew outhaul slider breaking leaving Max Capener and Katy Jones (Staunton Harold) to win, adding to their tally of 3, 1, 6 and 2. This set up a gripping final day of two races in much more attractive conditions. Capener at nineteen years of age is a Laser Youth Squad sailor and assistant Mirror coach whilst the younger Ellis is Junior World Mirror Champion in his last Mirror event before progressing to a 420.

This sixth set is, I think, race 7 & 8 on the Friday.

(editor's note: the first 10 look a bit windier, but these are in sequence after the singlehanded race 2 and the U12 race (thursday evening), so must all be the Friday)

With it all to do Ellis fumbled the penultimate race - tenth against Capener's eighth. Now it all hinged on the last race but with Ellis eleventh going up the last beat, Capener seemed to have the Championship under control. Ellis, his young age belying his experience and calm under pressure spotted more wind and went left up the beat leapfrogging to second putting the pressure back on Capener who responded by waiting, sails flapping at the windward mark. In a replica of the Ainslie/Scheidt "match race", Capener tried to sail Ellis off the course and down the order but Ellis used the windward mark boat to call for water, gybe off and beat Capener in a one/two result that had everyone enthralled.

Whilst the first three dominated the race winning, fourth placed Ben Crompton and Robbie Cowan (SCYC/Budworth) showed great boat speed with best results of 2,4,4 and 3. Close behind him were Oliver Turner/Carlotte Jones (Starcross) and tying for sixth were Guy Wilkins/Joe Wilkins (Chipstead) and Vince Horey/Tom Horey (King George) with Wilkins getting the verdict.

First three girls were Rosie Chapman/Josh Barrow, eleventh overall (Mounts Bay), Eloise Hansen/Kayleigh Hansen, fifteenth overall (Covenham) and Sarah Sharp/Clare Best, nineteenth overall (SCYC/Budworth). Eloise & Kayleigh Hansen were deserved winners of the Silver Fleet, Gold Fleet selection being determined by being part of any National Squad.

National Championship Results

(Editor's note: the original table had, what would appear to be, incorrect race number labels of 1,3 4,5,2,6,8,7 , but we know Dan Ellis won race 8, so the last two, at least, are wrong. I've assumed they should all have been labelled sequentialy. On SailRacer, they have retained the original race number labels, but re-ordered the columns, so have Dan Ellis 10th in race 8, which is wrong.)

Gold Category: All adults & Youths, all National Squad sailors plus any other non-zone squad sailors.

Silver Category: Zone Squad & zone squad equivalent sailors.

Bronze Category: Non-Certificated boats, plus those only wanting to sail one race per day.

Single-Handed National Championship

This set is, I think, Tuesday's single handed race 1 and the crews race

No report, just the photos of race 1 (above) and results

Crews Race

Under 12 Race

This set is, I think, Thursdays single handed race 2 and the under 12 race

Prizegiving

Paul Strzelecki, Chief Executive of Henri Lloyd came personally to present the prizes, giving an excellent speech to round off an exciting 40th Championship.

Class Association Trophies

(Please ensure trophies are returned in good time for 2004 Nationals, polished and engraved. If previous years winners are not engraved, please have these added as well and send the receipt to the MCA Treasurer for reimbursement)

This list is for keeping track of the trophies. As it is the Helms who are generally MCA members, these are the names that we are tracking.

Last Update - 5 Sept 2003