Billy Vennis-Ozanne Catch Up

Team Allen’s Billy Vennis-Ozanne was at the Allen supported J70 Worlds, so we had a quick catch up. Check out what Billy’s been up to and what he thinks of the A2020Tii blocks

Monique Vennis-Ozanne 29er Summer

After four weeks of exams throughout May and June I finally finished school and my summer of sailing in my 29er could began. I usually sail with John Mather, but, I also had the chance to sail with my brother Billy, who is also a member of Team Allen.

Summer started off in Kiel for the 29er Eurocup as part of Kiel Week. This week is always a good one, especially as a treat from finishing school a week beforehand. We were treated even more with sunny weather and wind all week. It was a week of many general recalls, the most I’ve ever experienced, and lots of black flags. Despite this, John and myself sailed a consistent series in 10-18knots most of the time to round up Kiel Week 18th out of 118, so a good start to the summer.

Next up was the Hayling 29er GP. There was a brief postponement leaving us sailors waiting in anticipation to get out onto the classic Hayling summer water; sunny, breezy and wavy. We had a slow start with a 9th and 10th then found our pace with two 2nds. The streak of 2nds continued onto Sunday with two more 2nds followed by a 1st and 5^th. This left us happily 2^nd overall in the 55-boat fleet.

Following the Hayling island event, my brother, dad and I drove the 1100 miles to Gydnia, Poland for the 29er World Championships. We had the van fully loaded to the brim with four 29ers, a Rib and plenty of spare parts. We arrived a few days early so we could do a cheeky bit of practising as Billy and I hadn’t sailed together since April. This would also be our second event together. I also needed some time to get used to having someone 20kgs heavier than John upfront again. We had a bit of breeze throughout the practice days and qualifying, Billy was loving the Allen 50mm pro-ratchets for the kite sheets as they reduced the load of the kite for his softy’s hands!

We had what could’ve been a very good qualifying series, scoring a 3rd, 2nd, UFD, 35th, 3^rd and 2^nd. The 35^th came after a frustrating pitchpole, nevertheless I’m still super pleased to have got some great results at my first World Championships. The final series was lighter, and Billy and I struggled a bit more due to our weight. We finally finished 36th out of 175 at my first Worlds, Which I am really pleased with.

The last event for me this summer was the Europeans, held in another amazing location.  Arco, Lake Garda, Italy. Nothing beats racing with the Garda mountains as your backdrop. Our qualifying was average apart from a 2nd and 3rd when the wind eased off briefly. Silver fleet was still a high standard with two world number ones amongst us and pretty windy conditions all week. Fortunately, there were no complications or breakages due to our reliable Allen hardware. We were able to really crank the Kicker and Cunningham on to depower us and not have to worry.

After the long week, with far too many 7am starts, we ended the event placed 13th Silver and 73rd overall out of 210 boats.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my first summer of sailing the 29er and I am looking forward to the next one as the Worlds is on our home waters of Weymouth.

Thanks again to Allen for supporting me with the most reliable kit!

Jamie Harris Sailing Summer 2019

My summer started with the OK Europeans as part of Kiel week, my first major international OK event which I really enjoyed, competing against the top OK sailors was inspiring and the event ended on a high as I won the Junior (first under 23) title. With the World Championships coming to the UK in 2022 there is much hard training to be had in order to make the team and challenge the old-guard!

The next event on the calendar was 470 Junior Europeans in Vilagarcia De Arousa, Galicia Spain, crewing for Tom Collyer. An epic drive out and a week’s training on the shifty Atlantic estuary was followed by a week’s racing which threw up some surprising gain features, it was a brilliant experience and a steep learning curve.

After returning back to England my sister Bettine and I set straight off to Torquay for the RS200 National Championships. After a gruelling week of heavy winds, we managed to defend our First Junior Boat Trophy against tough competition. And we are very much looking forward to returning to the event next year.

Following my A-Level results day, I travelled to Weymouth for the 470 Nationals, two days training in roughly 20 knots, crewing for Rhys Lewis was followed by brilliant racing beneath Portland Bill, against many of the British Sailing Team. We finished 10^th and were pleased with our result in such a talented fleet and exciting conditions.

Next event is the Ok Nationals in Aberscoh before I set off to Southampton University this autumn, where I plan to study Engineering and sail the Solent as much as possible.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported my sailing this year, in particular TS5C Charity, Allen Brothers and my local sailing club Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club.

Joey Taylor/ Terry Hacker – RS Feva National Champions 2019

A summary of the RS Feva Nationals by Team Allen sailors and recently crowned RS Feva National Champions. Joey and Terry. 

The RS Feva fleet headed to South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club, Abersoch, for their 2019 National Championships.  With a forecast of building winds through the 4 days of the regatta, Saturday morning was all about boat preparation and getting our heads in the right place for 4 days of the challenging racing the venue is known for.

We launched late morning with the aim of getting 3 races in on the day.  The winds were lighter and shiftier than expected, with a little bit of chop but no large swell.  With the 94 boat fleet split into 2 flights we were in the first start and headed right up the first beat rounding the windward mark in about 10^th.  After a lot of place changing, both up and down, we had a strong second beat ensuring we started the regatta with a safe 8^th position.  For the second and third races the fleet was getting more aggressive on the start line, we managed to avoid any black flags and posted a 7^th and 4^th to finish the day comfortably placed in 7^th overall.

Day 2 dawned and the predicted wind had arrived.  Start time was earlier and the beach was busy with sailors ensuring their boats were properly set up for a tough days racing.  On the water the chop had increased with a 15kt to 20kt steady North Westerly providing some testing conditions.  We set our stall out early with a great pin end start in the first race, getting to the windward mark in 2^nd before taking the lead on the first downwind.  Once ahead we increased our lead to the finish to get our first bullet of the championship.  Race 2 followed a similar pattern, but we were caught out by the wind dropping on the final run allowing the boat behind to ride a gust past us to the finish, with us a close 2^nd.  The wind dropped further for race 3, although the odd big gust was still around to keep the fleet on its toes.  After another good start we led all the way to the last mark, just losing out with a poor rounding to finish 2^nd.  These were the final races of the qualification series and posting a 1,2,2 for the day was enough to go into gold fleet leading the championship.

The following morning the nerves were beginning to show as we prepared to launch wearing the gold championship leaders race bibs.  This was probably the most pressure I have felt at an event, knowing that all the other teams would be looking for us and wanting the no 1 spot for themselves.  Our nerves were temporarily calmed after another good pin end start in the first race, unfortunately after tacking to cross the fleet we capsized and found ourselves back in about 30^th at the windward mark.  At this point we felt we had nothing to lose and with great boat speed both down and upwind we clawed ourselves back to 10^th at the finish.  We knew we needed a good result in the next race if we were going to be in contention for the overall win, and after winning the pin end again we made no mistakes posting a bullet by some distance.  We carried this form into the last race of the day finishing 2^nd leaving us 1^st overall overnight with a discard still to come.

Waking up on the final day the nerves were in full flight as we were coming to terms with having the opportunity to win the event.  Our Squiddies coaches were great in calming us down before racing and we began to feel a lot calmer once we launched.  Conditions were even windier than previous days but, with the waves, were great fun and really suited our style of sailing.  Our biggest concerns were black flags, protests and gear failure but we kept ourselves out of trouble, the boat stayed strong (thank you Allen for providing the fittings) and we put our nerves behind us to close out the championship with a 1,1,1 scoreline for the day.

Overall, we really enjoyed the regatta and the SCYC were fantastic hosts.  Terry and I worked really well together as a team and this definitely contributed to our win.  Next event for us is the Inlands at Rutland at the end of June before the Worlds in Italy in July.

Check out the RS Feva rigging guide by 2018 World Champion and Team Allen sailor Ben Hutton-Penman here.

Megan Pascoe – First regatta of the year

Ruhr City Cup in Essen

After a long winter mostly sailing a borrowed boat owing to my brother working some magic on mine it was time to start the season. The Ruhr City Cup is the ideal place to do it. A small crescent-shaped river with some interesting shifts but it makes the sailing fun.

It is always good to see what the German fleet has been up to over the winter and we spent a long time on Friday talking about this due to a complete lack of wind. Sitting in the sun chatting sailing, planning the next couple of years is not a bad way of spending a Friday. It beats sitting in the office.

As Saturday came the wind did as well, some of it anyhow. Five races in one day with a coffee break after 4 lead to a full on day. It’s always nice after the winter to find out how fast the boat is going and pleasantly mine was going fast enough. I had a great battle all day with Heiko Kroger a Paralympic and World Champion. Unfortunately, as you can see from the picture I was on the outside of too many leeward marks going into the finish. We both had to bow to a very fast local Dragon sailor Ben van Cauwenbergh, a Belgium living in Germany sailing under an American sail number.

Sunday the wind had gone 180 degrees so we weaved our way through the rowers for three last races. I was starting better but in the first couldn’t quite hold onto the inside at the leeward mark and lost to Heiko. Second race I couldn’t find the right shift to save my life but managed to find one that mattered at the top to lead and managed this time to hold it. This lead to the last race winner takes all. Heiko did a very nice job of covering me up the beat, I should have stayed close down the run but didn’t and could only get back to fourth. Every days a school day and we’ll try again.

It is a great little club at WSB Baldeneysee celebrating its 100th year. The race team was once again excellent as local sailor Stefan Giesen brings his team from Kieler Woche. It is the volunteers that make this event from the beer fridge to an immense amount of cake. An event structure that is almost uniqiue to the Ruhr City Cup that everyone should experience once in their life. As Ben wrote in the German report all together nice weather, wind, nice people, three days all you can eat and drink, and fun!! Sums up the weekend perfectly and a great start to the season. Very excited for the months ahead.

Results: https://www.manage2sail.com/it/event/ERCC2019#!/results?classId=204e29a8-dcc9-4bb2-a5ce-ff509b58191b

Photos courtesy of www.2punkt4.de

Fynn Sterritt & James Peters 2018 Recap

2018 has been an up and down year for James and I. Having geared ourselves up for the year, training intensely out in Vilamoura Portugal, Fynn tore his anterior meniscus 2 days before the Palma Princess Sofia Regatta. With the injury requiring surgery, it wasn’t until 2 weeks before the World Championships in August that we were able to return to the boat as a team. This meant we missed 3 major European regattas – Palma, Hyeres and the Europeans.

Having missed so much crucial training and racing time we naturally felt a bit rusty leading into the Worlds. However, we believed we had as good a chance as anyone at taking the title. After a long week of racing, we came away 5th overall and 1st British boat, securing Great Britain a spot in the Olympics.

The next big event and our outcome regatta of the year was the Tokyo World Cup at the Olympic Venue. The majority of the racing was held in shifty offshore conditions, making for some hard fought battles throughout the event. After leading the regatta and going into the top 10 medal race we then had a fantastic medal race win to move well clear of the rest of the fleet and take the gold medal. Gaining experience at the venue and showing to the rest of the world how strong we perform there gives us a lot of confidence going forward.

This years Miami World Cup was a light one, with all but 2 races carried out in under 7 knots. Having sailed ourselves into a 3rd position with the possibility of moving up to silver before the medal race we then, unfortunately, got an OCS in the medal race, dropping us to 5th overall. On reflection though, a good result at a tough venue and plenty of lessons learned to take into the European season.

Looking forwards we have another training camp in Vilamoura this month before we head to Palma in March in preparation for the Princess Sofia Regatta. Post Palma, we have the Genoa WC (April), Europeans (May) and Tokyo World Cup (August) before the World Championship in Auckland, NZ (Dec).

16ft Skiff Nationals

It’s been a long week! We had 28 degrees, plenty of sun and 8-15 knots every day (which is very unusual).

Picture sunny Queensland, with 28 degrees every day, and an 8-15 knot semi-seabreeze. Add 16ft Carbon Skiffs and a bar and you have yourself a 16 Nationals! With about 40 skiffs participating, there was plenty of competitive racing, and plenty of beers flowing after the racing. The fantastic part of our skiff class is that the skills vary considerably, from sailors with just 1 season worth of experience, to 25 years of experience; from weekend club racers to members of the Australian Sailing Team. It really is a regatta with some serious competition (despite the very social atmosphere).

There was close racing all week – one mistake would cost you 10 places and after 90 minutes of racing, there was usually only 5 minutes of difference between the front pack and the last pack. There were only a few protests, most of which were sorted out with a round of beers at the end of the day. The Eric’s boys had a very enjoyable regatta, despite results being far lower than expected without our usual crew. We definitely improved over the week, and had we had another regatta together after, our results would have shown!

I’ve had many comments regarding how well looked after our boat is, as well as how neat all the rope work is and how gorgeous the boat looks with the Allen kit. Definitely, a head-turning boat.

Looking forward we have the Botany Bay Championships and the Belmont Sprints which has plenty of fun.

Full results here

Nathan Edwards – Erics Removals Skiff – Team Allen

Aaron Evans and a reflection on 2018

After three years of sailing – first year doing open coaching, the second year in the RYA Zone Squad and the third in the RYA Junior Squad – it all came together in 2018. I had a good run in the London & South East Region Topper Travellers, securing the overall winner.  The series started in March and ran through to the end of October.  The series is spread between fifteen events hosted by various clubs in the region. In the National Series, consisting of six-weekend events across the UK, I won the final event, placing me second overall in the national series.

In July I attended the National Schools Sailing Association (NSSA) regatta hosted by Datchet Water. This was a week-long event where clubs and area representatives get together for a week of sailing and fun. I was a member of the Queen Mary Sailing Club team. I came first in the Topper event and as we had a strong Topper fleet overall, we also won the team prize!

In August I went to China for the Topper Worlds. Unfortunately, the wind was against us. We either had too much or none at all. However, It was great to compete against other nations and although we did not complete a series I was placed third overall. After the event, I had a great experience as we visited various places with my family and friends which included the Great Wall of China and the Terracotta Army.

In September I managed to talk my parents into letting me enter the Isle of Sheppey round the island race, which is part of the Allen Endurance Series. The race is a forty-mile circumnavigation of the Isle of Sheppey. It took me four hours and forty-six minutes to complete the course, which for me was a long time in a Topper. I came 15^th overall and won the junior helm prize together with the first placed slow handicap boat. Hopefully, I will attend in 2019 but not in a Topper!

I have now transitioned into the Laser and sail both the 4.7 & Radial depending on the wind conditions. I have learnt a lot from the two UKLA training sessions which I’ve attended as well as the two local Laser Radial events I won this Autumn.

2019 is an important year as I have my GCSE’s in May & June. I will be going to Weymouth to compete in the Youth Nationals at Easter and again in July for the NSSA.

Megan Pascoe’s 2018 year in review

As the season closed in Antwerp last weekend it gave me a chance to look back at what an incredible year it has been in the 2.4mR.

I’ve had some amazing tight finishes to events this year with the Nationals in Poole, Frensham open, Dutch Nationals and the German Nationals all coming down to the wire. It was great to attend the UK Nationals, after so many years of missing it for one reason or another, and having it as part of the Poole Keelboat regatta is always a lot of fun. As was competing in Carrickfergus at the Irish Nationals. A great piece of water with the Irish hospitality that we all come to expect and love. Fortunately, I took the win at all 5!

The one that didn’t go down to the wire was the Worlds in Sweden. I was never sure how this one was going to go as I hadn’t been on open water in a big competition for a long time. Racing in Gavle in the past has been a bit hit or miss over my sailing carer, however, I love going back to big race courses and 75-minute races. The start of the event was great, scoring all top 5 results. the second half of the event, however, didn’t go to plan with my worst results coming in the last 2 races. Overall I was very happy finishing 2nd and a long way from third but there’s more work to go in order to get back to the top spot next year in Genoa.

Probably the biggest test this year was at the German Championships in Berlin. 48 boats entered into what turned out to be a very shifty and mostly light venue. We started with an exhibition knock out race which challenged me because I kept forgetting how to match race but it was a lot of fun. The real racing was even more challenging with a very high scoring regatta. Especially Saturday where the water was packed with every leisure craft and river cruise boats going. Most deciding that coming right through the middle of the course was a good idea. I was leading going into Sunday but a few mistakes made throughout the day meant I had to settle for second. Happy on reflection that in the light and shifty that I had managed to score well and consistent for most of the regatta.

Finally, we end in Antwerp, as always, on the Galgenweel. Antwerp is a great little city, with a lot of history, and is a nice place to hang out for a long weekend with friends celebrating the end of the season. Sailing as always on a small lake was tight and Ulli Libor and Dirk Jan Broertjes were going fast. In a long series of 13 races, it seems a long time to keep concentration over the 4 days. Saturday was fully wacky racing with more fluky conditions however, i performed well and managed to win for the 7th year in a row. Coming away with 7 from 7 makes a great culmination to my year.

It’s now back to work for the busy Christmas rush and a nice bit of casual club racing!

STAKES ARE HIGH FOR 2018 ENDEAVOUR GLORY

The Endeavour Trophy takes place at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-On-Crouch, from 12-14 October. It is the only event of its type in the dinghy sailing calendar. Entry is by invitation only and to be considered sailors must be reigning champion in their class. It is truly a competition to find the best of the best.

This year, there are 30 classes competing and the runners and riders include returning champions Ben Saxton and Toby Lewis. Saxton is a member of the British Sailing squad for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and has won the Endeavour 3 years in a row with crew Toby.

Nick Craig, the reigning D One champion and 2017 runner up will also be returning and is looking forward to another weekend of close racing, Nick commented “We are very much looking forward to the Endeavour as it is still so prestigious and attracts the top talent in the UK.  The event is so well run on and off the water.  With 8 tough races, it feels like a weeklong Championship in a weekend.  I only wish racing was like this every weekend!”

The further 28 classes are being represented by the cream of British dinghy racing. Three of which are members of Team Allen, the company’s squad of racers who aid research and development of its products. They are Rhys Lewis / Drew Wright (420 National Champions), Chris Birrell/ Sam Brearey (Merlin Rocket National Champions) and Burnham-on-Crouch sailor Ben Hutton-Penman (RSFeva & RS Aero 5 World champion).

Allen Brothers manufactures high-performance sailing hardware at its factory in Southminster, Essex. The company’s hardware is used by many of the British Sailing squad which will be competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The company has a policy of innovation and development relying on feedback from its elite sailors, Team Allen.

The full Entry List for the 2018 Endeavour Trophy comprises:

Further information is available at https://royalcorinthian.co.uk/endeavour/

Live streams of the event will be available from https://www.facebook.com/AllenBrothersSailing/