Blaze Nationals, 24-26th May 2003 at Portland

The Blaze class enjoyed the best sailing conditions in years at its 2003 Nationals at Portland. The weather gods obliged with wind ranging from F2-3 to F5 over the 3 day meeting coupled with enough sunshine for even the most hardened worshiper.

18 Boats came to the line on day one and aided by an uncharacteristically late arrival to the line by previous champion Steve Cockerill (691) the Burghfield pair of Mike Lyons (654) and Paul Hemsley (656) fought it out at the front chased by Peter Jones (683) with the Lyons winning at the line. Race two and the same duel continued albeit behind Cockerill who controlled the race from the line. This time New Zealander youth Alex Kafka (655), sailing the Blaze for the first time, came through to 4th. The third race broke with the previous pattern with Lyons challenging Cockerill for most of the race to lose by 2 lengths at the line.

Day two and the wind strengthened to F4-5. Cockerill dominated the day winning all three races by good margins in the choppy conditions and the pecking order behind him was beginning to look set. Kafka was perhaps the unluckiest when his forestay became unattached on the high speed run in race 4 when lying in third position. Remarkably, aided by a rescue rib, he managed to re-step it by the leeward mark and stay in the racing for the rest of the day.

Day three was lighter at F2-3 and Dutchman Rien Zilwold (658) followed by Lyons broke through to the windward mark ahead of the field. Their positions reversed on the first reach and they then extended their lead to the finish followed by Cockerill and Kafka. The final race saw was perhaps the closest and hardest fought race of the event with Cockerill repeatedly covering Lyons and Kafka to win. They were followed by Zilwold and David Angwin (613).

Portland was very popular with all the competitors and it cannot be too long before the class returns. The association would like to extend its thanks to WPSA for its organization and to Hewlett Packard / WCI for its sponsorship. The next meeting is at Burghfield SC on 28/29 June and a couple of 'loan boats' will be offered for those who want to find out about the Blaze for themselves.

1st Steve Cockerill (691) 6 points
2nd Mike Lyons (654) 10 points
3rd Paul Hemsley (656) 22 points
4th Alex Kafka (655) 23 points
5th David Angwin (613) 27 points