No report yesterday…no apologies either! I was shattered and needed a beer!
However, I will report that Starchick won both Cruiser races, Perkers won both
Squib races, Daisy Dog won both Contessa 26 races and Blackie and Mona won a
race each in the YOD class. Today’s racing saw a start line set from ‘0’ in the
middle of the bay, with the Squibs and YODs sailing windward / leeward courses
with U as the windward mark. The Cruiser and Contessa classes sailed triangle
courses round C as the windward mark and 6 as the ‘gybe’ mark.
B Class – The Cruisers
The cruisers all got a clear start with Starchick appearing to get the better of the
fleet. However Nemo found their way around the windward mark first and it was
their red spinnaker which came into view first on the horizon. Starchick followed
in 2nd with Nemo and Growler
following behind. These
positions held until the end of
the race with the fleet awaiting
their corrected times. These
showed Starchick won by 2
minutes 30 seconds ahead of
Nemo. The second race followed
pretty much the same pattern
with the boats heading out to
windward mark U instead of C in an effort to shorten the length of the course.
Both Starchick and Sin Bin were seen doing ‘360 turns’ but the jury is still out as
to what actually happened! Regardless, final positions show Starchick winning by
1 minute and 14 seconds on corrected time from Sin Bin.
C Class – The Squibs
Again the Squib class showed good form, with all 5 boats crossing the start line
on time, with Perkers squeezing in at the pin end. By the windward mark Ghost
had a slight lead of only a couple of boat lengths ahead of Perkers, who in turn
was only a handful of lengths ahead of Kachina. Ghost lost their lead downwind
to Perkers who rounded the leeward mark
literally seconds ahead of them to calls of, and I
quote, “How the hell did they do that!?”. The
positions were again swapped upwind with
Ghost taking a larger lead than previously which
obviously did the trick as they held off Perkers’
challenge to the end of the second leg to win
race 6 and the North of England Championships.
In the 2nd race Perkers again crept in at the pin
end of the line and managed found better wind
up the right-hand side of the beat to take an
early lead which they refused to concede! Ghost
followed round in 2nd while the real battle was
behind for 3rd place between Katchina and
Jetstream. The latter of the 2 managed to come
from last place at the end of the first leg to steal
3rd position on the line thanks to a last minute
gust!
E Class – The YODs
Congratulations to Mona who won the Roland Winn Cup on day 3 based on ‘Medal
Race Rules’ as they performed better on the last race of the 5 which counted.
Today saw only 2 of the entered 6 YODs take to the water amid fears of strong
winds and broken boats! Mona and Blackie had some excellent match racing all
day, with the fun and games beginning before the start gun! Blackie seemed to
take the lead off the line and held their lead through to the end of the race,
holding off a strong challenge from Mona. However, race 7 saw Mona’s win come
a little more easily than they had expected. Blackie are currently advertising for
new crew with only 1 qualification required.
The advert reads as follows; “WANTED: Able
bodied crewman. Must be able to spot
bright orange marks in middle of Brid Bay.
Those who know the Rix family need not
apply…” As you may have guessed, Blackie
lost their challenge for first after not
spotting they had over laid the windward
mark by around 50yards on the 2nd round!
Laughter could be heard from onboard Mona
several miles away in Flamborough…
D Class – The Contessas
In yesterday’s 1st race Tessador had the perfect opportunity to spoil Daisy Dog’s
week but threw away a huge lead by being overly greedy with the spinnaker and
carrying it for too long. Today however there was no such luck as it was business
as usual as Daisy Dog took and early lead in the fleet which they are leading
overall in both races. In the first race the fleet disappeared over the horizon and
were never to be seen again…until a couple of spinnakers started to appear which
showed Tessador giving chase, with Coriander close behind. I’m afraid to say
thought that the start of the 2nd race not
particularly challenging on the start line.
As the start gun went, half of the fleet
were still enjoying their G&Ts and picnics
just off Sewerby Cliffs. Eventually the
whole fleet did get going and Daisy Dog
ran away as race winners with Coriander
following in 2nd with Tessador behind in
3rd. I’m not sure that Blackie will be
taking ‘Youngest’ Rix as their newest
crew, seeing as he has now broken 3
spinnaker poles this week, the latest
being on Halcyon Days - does the RYYC
have a sponsorship deal with Z-Spars!
Tomorrow’s forecast gives a ‘fresh’ 18-20 knot breeze, gusting 31 knots! Should
be fun! I suggest you pack your heavy weather gear and get ready to get wet!
Keep breaking poles, missing marks, doing turns…in the gentlemen’s class we
behave ourselves…most of the time! See you on the water tomorrow!
(Please note, our fantastic photographer is not with us this week,
so all photos used are stock photos taken from regatta 2008)