Peter Cope Waszp National Championship Update

Last week I competed at the UK Waszp National Championships and Eurocup in Weymouth, with a record breaking 90 competitors. The class is getting larger and larger every year. 

I arrived down there midday on Tuesday and set about preparing my boat which had just arrived back from the World Championships in Norway and then I checked into my accommodation. Wednesday was spent training on the water and ironing out the last few issues on the boat ahead of racing starting on Thursday.

Thursday came around with very strong winds in the morning leading to a long postponement until 3 o’clock where the race committee cancelled racing for the day due to the ongoing strong winds. So a group of competitors and I set out to try and set a new Waszp speed record - the wind had dropped a bit but we still clocked 24.0 knots or 27.6 mph!

Friday looked perfect - the sun was out and we completed 5 races. I sailed well with my best race result being 2nd place putting me in 3rd place overall after the first day. 

Saturday was the alternative format racing day. We started with the slalom series which is not my strongest but I was pleased to finish 7th overall after getting through two prior knockout rounds. Then came the distance start, where all the boats start on a reach passing behind a RIB - I did well on the start but unfortunately capsized and was playing catch up from there only finishing 11th. However lots of other people had varied results and I finished the day still in 3rd place going into the last day of racing on Sunday.

The wind was back in full force for the last day of racing, I struggled to get the boat going quick in the first race finishing tenth but then nailed the next two races, coming in at 2nd and 3rd to finish the regatta. However this was not enough to secure the 3rd place and I slipped down to 4th place overall by 2 points but was still the UK Youth National Champion by a long way!

Looking ahead - I’m off to Exeter University in September where I will be training out of Weymouth regularly as a part of the Athena Youth Team again and hoping to compete in some European events and maybe an event in Florida called foiling week, building towards next year’s Waszp World Championships in Weymouth. My form has improved with every event I’ve competed at this season, and I look to improve further. Being based on the South coast will also enable me to compete more frequently at the larger events held there.

My sincere thanks again to RL360 for their ongoing sponsorship which enables me to compete at these high level competitions.