Osprey Nationals

Published 09:13 on 10 Jul 2025

Rob Southern writes: four boats from ESC travelled to Mumbles for the Osprey Nationals last week. A very competitive fleet of 40 boats turned up for a windy few days. Mumbles is a cracking location, on the far side of Swansea Bay, with sea state protected from the SW. Thursday saw champagne sailing conditions - sunny F4 gusting F5. Ben Townsend and Ed Richardson in 1322 (PeekaBoo) managed a creditable 10th place in the second race. A call out for Beanie Southern, who helmed 1369 (Dark Matter) with Rob Southern as crew for both races - her first nationals.

The wind blew up on Friday, a solid F5. PeekaBoo was in a podium position in R3, until broken toe straps led to Ben self-ejecting, capsizing and then breaking the boom. Very frustrating. Simon and Jack Townsend 1317 (The Duke) gained an exceptional 5th place in R4.

Saturday was a tough day, with a solid F5, gusting F6. The whole fleet continued to compete hard. Ed worked hard overnight and a newly fixed PeekaBoo started to outperform, getting a 5th and 6th place. Both Adam and Tristan Southern in 1326 (Shameless) and Dark Matter now with Rob & Freddy Southern crewing, started to use their extra weight to good advantage in the higher winds, securing some low 20s finishes.

Sunday was forecast to be less windy but turned out to be a solid 21-27kn breeze. The fleet kept sailing - unfortunately ESC boats were beset:PeekaBoo's boom broke, Dark Matter sustained a broken kicker and Shameless a delaminated hull.

Simon and Jack Townsend kept the boat going impressively, after a swim during a pretty big squall in R7 and finished with 10th and 13th in the final 2 races.

Overall ESC results were 1317 on 12th, 1322 in 24th, 1369 in 32nd and 1326 in 33rd. Congrats to Ben and Ed, winning youth team award. A very windy, fun and challenging few days of sailing!

Yachts and Yachting also has a report.