Sailing Chandlery K6 Nationals 2023 at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

K6 Nationals at Torbay © 50 North Photography

This year the K6 fleet shared their championship in the wonderful Torbay with the SB20s who were also holding their championship. For the first day of the event there was a change of format consisting of a sprint series.

This format was a first for the K6 fleet, 6 windward/leeward sprint races with 1 discard and the total score to count towards the overall Championship. The wind had been building during the morning into a 15 to 20 knot breeze. The short two lap format proved to be a great introduction to the Championships and an instant reintroduction to the Class for Lawrence & Luca Crispin. Their dominance included chasing down John Tabor, Tom Kosteletos and James Bennett who had taken full advantage of an early tack onto a wind shift and led for three of the four legs of race 4. Overall, the day ended with the top three of Lawrence & Luca, Dave Hall, Heather Chipperfield & Maria Richards in second and Dave Gorringe & Geoff Havers third. Full sprint results are shown below.

K6 Nationals at Torbay - photo © 50 North Photography

Day 2 forecast more of the same. The wind duly obliged and with three races, alternating starts with SB20s on the course, the fleet enjoyed sun, wind and waves on the longer course. Lawrence and Luca set the tone, winning all three races. Racing for the chasing pack was close with team Hall and team Gorringe fighting it out.

The weather Apps forecast light winds for day 3, how wrong they were! Three races closely contested within the fleet with the exception of Lawrence and Luca who were seen overtaking the backmarkers of the SB20 fleet. Dave Hall and team posted consistently high finishes, second in two of the three races to cement their position overall..

K6 Nationals at Torbay - photo © 50 North Photography

Sunday dawned with building stormy conditions, gusts in excess of 30kts were predicted. Wisely the Race Officer assessed the conditions early and abandoned racing. With a perfect score of 7 bullets, discarding a win(!), clear and dominant winners were Lawrence & Luca Crispin, followed home by Dave Hall, Heather Chipperfield & Maria Richards in second and Dave Gorringe & Geoff Havers in Third, 6 points clear of George Barker & Russel Woodley in forth. Full results in the table below.

Heroic crew award went to Amy Owen who, expecting to be the third member of the crew, found herself the only crew when her brother Oliver was taken ill. Great work Amy!

This report would be incomplete without mentioning the hugely efficient RTYC race team. With clear and timely signals, immaculate course settings and blisteringly quick results, they made the event so enjoyable for everyone.

Thanks also go to event sponsor, Sailing Chandlery, for its support and generosity.

Sprint Results:

National Championship Overall Results: