Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta - Day 1
by Keith Baud 29 Aug 2003 15:27 BST
WHITE KNUCKLE RIDE
With winds gusting to force 5, and a lumpy sea, the first days racing at Dartmouth Regatta provided exciting sailing for the 283 craft taking part.
First blood in the 4-day series fell to the Prima 38 White Knuckles of Andrew Williams, who was not only first over the finish line in Start Bay, but took IRC 1 on handicap ahead of John Symington in Mustang Sally with the second of the Prima 38’s Bare Knuckles (Robert Gateshill) in third.
In IRC 2, Capitalism, the HOD 35 of Tim Harrington was fastest, but had to give best on handicap to the X99 Xcellent – shared by Sean Semmens and John Pollard with Dartmouth regular Jonathon Butler third in Peanut. Not surprisingly, Pete Johnson won IRC 3 in Blues Xtra, whilst the second Peanut in the event, the Impala of Mathew Damerall was second in this hotly contested category.
Robert Fletcher took up where he left off last year by winning PY1 in Major Clanger ahead of the First 310 Confucious (David Oliver) with Nightowler – the boat involved in Wednesday’s dramatic Passage Race rescue making up the leading trio. In PY2, Neil Ricketts made a cracking start to the series in his Westerly Fulmar “Mew Gull” whilst Stephen Dart in Gordon Rose took PY3.
The fast J80’s are proving increasingly popular on the Dart with 15 boats making up the Regatta fleet this year. The Race Committee had provided two races for these competitive boats but the conditions proved too much for favourite Charlie Cumbley just a few yards short of the finish line in Race 1 when the mast snapped on Majic, making him a retirement for the rest of the day. Just 25 seconds separated the first two in Race 1, with Stephen Hills taking a narrow victory in JSM over Roger Gerrish in Aqua J. In Race 2, Jeromino (Roger Hollingsworth) romped home a clear winner by nearly two minutes from Daniel Sheehan in Jacksnipe with Reg Nuttall in Jester third.
The Dart has a strong keel boat fleet with Scimitars, Squibs and Dragons all racing in lively conditions in the Range at the mouth of the river. Matt Reed in Bandido took the first win in the Scimitars, newcomer David Wines won the Squibs by a big margin in White Magic, whilst Jock Douglas took the Dragons in Cruachan.
The dinghies also raced in the range although weather conditions saw a number of capsizes. Dartmouth veteran (in more ways than one!) Jonathan Weeks took the lead in the large dinghy series in his Albacore Adrenalin ahead of the Laser II Chilli of Kit Breach, whilst the popular Topper fleet was headed by Edward Leeming with Richard Symons in Firebolt second.
Despite overnight rain and increasing winds, Dartmouth Regatta continues today (Friday) with a full days racing in Start Bay for the yachts and in the River Dart for the smaller craft.
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