It turns out the action of hitching a Blaze to the back of your car and driving towards a venue doesn't always guarantee absolutely no wind when you arrive!  25 Blazes contested a series of 6 races over the weekend of 18/19 October at Queen Mary SC for the third-time-lucky Blaze Nationals 2008.  After two windless trips to Stone SC, the Blaze fleet was much depleted from the 50-odd numbers which had been predicted for the 2008 Nationals but those who were able to make the trip where rewarded with decent breezes and competitive, really close racing throughout the fleet.

 

Race 1 got away in 5-6knts with Nick Miller (757) establishing an early lead which he never relinquished, despite being pushed hard by Christian Smart (751) towards the end.  The rest of the fleet enjoyed several close battles, on the windward-leeward course with some hard to read shifts towards the top mark providing snakes 'n ladders opportunities aplenty.  Andrew Hewitt and Andy Conway went left at the top of the last beat and gained 3rd and 4th respectively, 2006 & 2007 National champion Mike Lyons was 5th.

 

The 2nd race started very soon after the 1st, in very similar conditions.  A familiar pattern was established at the front of the fleet with Smart leading out, chased by Miller and a pack of boats including Lyons and Hewitt alongside newcomers to the front of the Blaze fleet like Chris Holman (670) who made the most of the conditions to record a 4th in the 2nd race.  Race 3 ended with Smart winning again with Miller 2nd and Lyons 3rd.  Smart finished day 1 at the top of the pile with two wins and a second, closely pursued by Miller with two seconds and a win.  The forecast was for the wind to drop in the evening, which it did while the Blaze AGM was held and the bar well visited.  QMSC was still standing on Sunday morning but had strangely sold-out of Jagermiester, so a few sailors were probably glad that racing didn't start until 11am and with three races back to back, it would decide the 2008 National Champion.

 

Sunday had been forecast to get more wind and it duly did, however from much the same direction as Saturday and with the same shifts at the top of the course providing plenty of opportunity for glory or (minor) disasters!  Much grinning in evidence from the fleet after the first race on Sunday (race 4), after a general recall, everyone was out of the wings upwind to the first mark - actual hiking in a Blaze during an event, almost unheard of in 2008!  Miller started the day by showing the fleet the way again, chased by Smart, could he reverse the previous days fortunes in the stronger breeze of Sunday?  Rien Zilvoid (756) was 3rd across the finish line but judged to be OCS, Hewitt was 4th, Lyon's 5th, Conway 6th and Tim Garvin 7th.  In race 5 Smart won but Miller was 6th after Mark Bramber (745) got away early on with a great first beat, only to be caught and eventually overtaken by Smart, Bramber finished with an excellent 2nd place.  Miller's 6th effectively meant it was Smart's title to lose going into the last race.   As it was, while there was definitely drama, Smart clinched the title in race 6 with another win.

 

After a recalled start, the fleet got away for Race 6 in the strongest breeze of the day.  The fleet should have completed three windward-leeward "sausages" before sailing the last downwind leg (the fourth) on a trapezoid to provide a reaching finish.  Unfortunately, somewhere down the 3rd run, instead of the 4th, the leading pack spotted those further back sailing out to the wing mark on a broad reach, while they were running.  There was a mass diversion followed by a confused finish and many questions asked after the fleet got ashore.  Smart and Zilvoid had been some way ahead at the time of the mass diversion and after a successful protest (against the fleet!) they were re-instated as 1 & 2 with everyone else getting their finish position +2.  In the final analysis Smart was judged to be Z-flagged on the start of Race 6 anyway but Millers 7th in this race meant Smart was declared the 2008 Blaze National Champion, from Nick Miller in 2nd and Mike Lyons in 4th.  Andrew Hewitt was 5th in the new boat he had built for himself (he works for Rondar who build the new mk3 Blaze under license from Cirrus, Mike Lyon's company).  Andy Conway was 6th in the first on the mk2 Blazes with Chris Holman just behind in another mk2.  First mk1 was Peter Halliwell (606) in 14th position.  Christian Smart thanked QMSC for putting on a great event, which was well-run in conjunction with the Europe Inlands, and looked relieved a third trip in 2008 from Pembrokeshire to the 'home counties' hadn't been wasted!

 

Andy Conway (720)

 

 

Photos were taken on the Sunday by Mike Beale and John Wood.

 

Name	Boat No.	Race #1	Race #2	Race #3	Race #4	Race #5	Race #6	Final Pts	Final Pos
Smart, Christian	751	2	1	1	2	1	6 (ZFG)	7	1
Miller, Nick	757	1	2	2	1	6	7	12	2
Lyons, Mike	750	5	3	3	4	3	3	16	3
Hewitt, Andrew	8	3	5	9	5	4	10 (ZFG)	26	4
Zilvoid, Rien	756	9	9	4	27 (OCS)	7	2	31	5
Conway, Andy	720	4	10	19	6	8	6	34	6
Holman, Chris	670	8	4	12	8	5	12	37	7
Preston, Martin	759	6	6	5	15	12	8	37	8
Garvin, Tim	733	15	11	6	7	10	4	38	9
Bamber, Mark	745	11	18	10	8 (ZFG)	2	10	41	10
Taylor, Paul	654	7	8	11	14	11	9	46	11
Barwin, Peter	7	10	13	8	10	18	11	52	12
Prytherch, Ross	662	20	16	13	9	9	17	64	13
Halliwell, Peter	606	14	17	15	11	17	14	71	14
Fullaloue, Ben	696	23	7	17	19	13	16	72	15
Corney, Michael	724	12	15	21	16	16	15	74	16
Collins, Nick	666	18	23	14	20	15	18 (ZFG)	85	17
Barbrook, Alastair	533	17	19	18	13	20	27 (DNF)	87	18
Brown, Stuart	752	13	14	7	27 (DNC)	27 (DNC)	27 (DNC)	88	19
Yates, Bob	717	21	24	16	12	27 (DNC)	19	92	20
Abbott, John	574	19	22	22	18	19	18	96	21
Uglow, Ian	591	24	20	24	21	14	21	100	22
Bell, Mike	15	22	21	23	17	21	20	101	23
Mason, Jonti	5	16	12	20	27 (DNC)	27 (DNC)	27 (DNC)	102	24
Reeve, Alex	613	27 (DNF)	27 (DNF)	27 (DNF)	27 (DNC)	27 (DNC)	27 (DNC)	135	25