K1 Southern Area Championship 2026 at Datchet Water Sailing Club

K1 Southern Championship at Datchet © Anthony Read

Simon Hawkes gave the 20 competing sailors a masterclass in sailing a K1 over the weekend of 5th and 6th June at Datchet Water. He kindly provided a training and coaching day on the preceding Friday with some tuning and rigging tips followed by some on the water starting practice, with a debrief afterwards. He then showed just why we've still got much to learn from him by delivering a dominant performance across the six races of the Southern Championships.

While the Friday training day was held in a pleasant force three, Saturday dawned with the promise of wind and rain. It delivered both, with a force five wind and plenty of force six gusts. Three races were held over a trapezoid course which allowed for some spectacular reaching. Simon won all three races, but with some strong competition from Paul Birbeck.

Everyone had their struggles in the gusts with even Simon knocked flat at one point, while Paul went further with a trip onto his keel to right his boat. It was a tribute though to the K1's design and build that there were no serious breakages and the safety boat could spend its time photographing the racing!

K1 Southern Championship at Datchet - photo © Anthony Read

Sunday brought some relief, but only some. The wind was now averaging force four, with a few calmer patches, but still with plenty of gusts over 20mph.

In race four, Simon executed a perfect pin-end start to establish an instant lead which he extended throughout the race. Behind him the racing was more tactical than Saturday had been with the fleet more tightly packed. As the wind shifted around, there were plenty of places to be gained or lost. Stuart Jones used his local knowledge and lightning downwind speed to take second place from Paul, while Richard Sims held off Jeremy Hudson and Andrew Wilson to take fourth place.

Race five saw some close racing between Simon, Paul and Stuart at the front, with Paul this time holding off Stuart to take second behind Simon. In the next group, it was Jeremy this time who held off Richard for fourth, with Andrew collecting another sixth place.

K1 Southern Championship at Datchet - photo © Paddy Lewis

The final, sixth, race saw a big left shift after the start which allowed Ian Duke and Richard Frost to lead at the first mark. Simon found himself in an unaccustomed mid-fleet position, but steadily worked his way back to the top spot. Richard got past Ian to clinch an excellent second place with Stuart coming in fourth behind Ian Duke.

Overall then a clean sweep for Simon, with Paul Birbeck counting four second places and a third to take the number two spot. Stuart Jones' excellent second day gave him third overall, just ahead of the ever-consistent Richard Sims. Comfortably the best performance in the 'Beat Your Predicted Place' scoring system was Tristan Beckett who showed some impressive boat-speed and boat handling in the windy conditions.

Simon Hawkes wins the K1 Southern Championship at Datchet - photo © Ian Duke

Local Datchet boats showed the strength of their fleet, taking five of the top ten places overall.

Thanks go to Race Officer Paddy Lewis, assisted by Helen Beecham and the safety crews, who provided efficient turnaround of the races; to Datchet Water for hosting the event and to our class sponsors, Ovington and Craftinsure for their support.

Overall Results:

Simon Hawkes wins the K1 Southern Championship at Datchet - photo © Paddy Lewis