Noble Marine Nation's Cup Day 1
- willloy
- 26 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Noble Marine Nation’s Cup Day 1
Thirty-nine UK Solos and their helms and nine elite Dutch sailors have assembled on the small picturesque town of Quiberon to contest the 26th running of the Green and Gates Nation’s Cup. ENVSN are hosting the event and look a pretty slick operation having recently held regattas for the 49ers, 49erFX and Nacra with some spectacular racing footage really showcasing the venue and its varied conditions. The majority of the fleet have arrived a day earlier, some of whom must have some German DNA coursing through their veins having claimed the best pitches by the beach. The sailing club, set on the peninsula looks out over a gently sloping white sandy beach, the generously wide concrete slipway should negate any chance of inter-fleet scuffles post sailing which would have made for great drama but would also contravene the Fair Sailing Charter on many levels. The venue is also hosting a Contender and Finn regatta, they will arrive Friday and Saturday and the PRO has already confirmed they will have their very own finish line, optimising our race window.
Many of the fleet are based in the local static home site, calling them caravans would be a slur to the proprietors who must have sunk quite a few euros into the majority of the two and three bedroom properties. The cooking facilities are more than adequate and with a large Lidl just a 5 minute drive away and a bar on site, the venue is fast ticking the required essential boxes on the Championship locations list.
Unfortunately the conditions were just a little too fruity and the PRO has cancelled racing so we will engage in battle tomorrow (Friday) with the hope of completing 3,4 or even 5 races given Saturday’s forecast which is marginal due to further strong winds.
The 48 competitors have evaporated from the boat park leaving only a handful of sad buggers who have nothing better to do than discuss personal medical conditions and stand in a huddled group assessing mast tapers, absolutely nothing interesting for me to video.
Fortunately, and like a beam of sunlight piercing through a sky of boring grey, Tom Gillard decides to hoist a prototype North 3di Polyester/Aramid sail up his tweaked Selden D+, providing me with the one interview opportunity of the day which I then deleted from my files in a blonde moment.
Tom is defending the title he won last year on Lake Como and normally I would suggest he is favourite but with the weather systems unpredictability in play, a reduced number of completed races could jeopardise his assault to a third title having won it in Carnac in 2022.
The class did visit Quiberon back in 2010, Paul Ellis winning from Geoff Henstridge with Mark Lee, who is the only sailor here who competed in that event (8th). He kept that a secret but can he improve in 2026?
The Nation’s Cup was presented for the first time to Jim Hunt in 2000 (Brassemermeer) who was utilising the new FRP Winder hull (4287) before defending the title the following year in a breezy Felpham event (4336). Winder hulls have in fact won 18 of the 25 Championships, a dominant force with only the Lock hull, Boon Boats and Sailboats 5.5 blotting their copy book.
The club will have a jury on the water and they have also provided the NSCA with a media rib which I understand will be driven by their Commodore Jerome so I do hope tomorrow will be packed with action, winners and gracious losers.
Huge thanks to Noble Marine who sponsor and support the class 24/7 365 days a year.
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