News

With three days of the five day 420 Class Oceania Basic Coaches and Sailors Clinic now completed, the amount of knowledge being transferred from Nikos Drougkas, the 420 Class Coach to participants is phenomenal.

The 420 Class Oceania Coaches and Sailors Clinic at the Takapuna Boating Club in New Zealand moved to day 2 with a focus on gybing, trapeze technique and mark rounding sessions.

Day 2 of the Clinic hosted at the Nassau Yacht Club again saw head coach Steve Keen layout the day’s learning programme with a morning shore-based session and afternoon on the water. The key focus today was on aspects of boat preparation and a detailed session on spinnaker technique.

The four day 420 Class Coaches and Sailors Clinic, 15-18 March, kicked off today at the Nassau Yacht Club led by Head Coach Steve Keen (NZL), well-known on the International 420 Class circuit.

Spain reigned Supreme as the 2017 420 World Championships drew to a close today, 3 January 2018, in Fremantle, Australia having secured gold, silver and bronze in the 420 Open Fleet and gold in the U17 fleet.

Much lighter conditions for this afternoon’s race day 5 at the 2017 420 World Championship in Fremantle might have produced some different results, but those who expected a break in the Spanish dominance of the event so far would have been disappointed as Spanish boats finished first second and third in the last race of the 420 Open Fleet.

Weather conditions were stronger than anticipated on race day 4 at the 420 World Championships, peaking at an average of 20 knots late in the day and gusting as high as 24 knots. Forecasters are still predicting softer pressure on Tuesday, which may please some of the visitors to Fremantle.

The weather forecasters’ predictions were perfect today.  A south to south westerly breeze kicked in during the morning on race day 3 at the 420 World Championships and escalated to a steady 22 knots with gusts around 25 knots over the race track off Fremantle this afternoon.

Race day 2 at the 2017 420 World Championships hosted at Fremantle Sailing Club, Australia and all change in the weather as the breeze eased and the wave action was a lot more manageable.

Fremantle turned on another brisk day today with breezes at the upper limit allowed by 420 class rules. The result was predictable, with many crews struggling to cope with the fresh conditions and big waves.