Held at Lasham from 26th June to 4th July, the UK Open, 15 Metre and Standard Class Nationals were badly affected by poor flying weather. A complex low-pressure system situated over northern France brought rainy conditions and low cloud bases to the Lasham area in southern England throughout the championships.
All classes enjoyed a competition day with many out-landings and very few finishers on the first Saturday. No other competition flying was possible with the exception of the lucky pilots in the Open Class who were launched from the front of the grid into a low cloud base on 1st July just minutes before an extensive rain shower and lowering cloud caused the other classes to be cancelled.
Only 6 of the Open Class pilots were able to complete the task on 1st July.
Six of the top ten places in the Open Class were taken by pilots flying the JS1. Congratulations to former British Team pilot Ian MacArthur on his first Open Class win flying his 18 Metre JS1B. The 15 Metre Class was won by JS Agent and former World Champion Andy Davis flying the only JS3 competing in the championships. Andy led the field home on the first day with a speed of 100.8 km/h demonstrating that even with its small wing area in the 15 metre configuration the JS3 is highly competitive in weak conditions.
We wish the pilots in our JS family better weather for the UK 18 metre Nationals at the end of August.
