Gill Loch Long Championship at Aldeburgh Yacht Club
by Jimmy Robinson 30 Jul 2008 08:12 BST
20-25 July 2008
34 teams for the Loch Long championships at Aldeburgh © Jimmy Robinson
From 20-25 July thirty-four Loch Longs competed in a series of quality races at Aldeburgh on only the second occasion on which the annual championship of this seventy-one year old class of classic yacht has been held away from the Association’s home on the Firth of Clyde. The week was sponsored by Gill’s again this year.
Eight boats from Cove Sailing Club (CSC) came south for the event and one Aldeburgh boat was sailed by a Scottish crew. After a sturdy Force 5 on the first day, and blustery north-westerlies of Force 6 gusting 7 on day two, light cyclonic airs came as something of a relief on day three. A one and a quarter mile long windward-leeward course was sailed on the upper reaches of the Alde when conditions allowed, others being set on home reaches with their fast running tides and exposed mud flanks. In the final two days needle matches were settled throughout the fleet in Force 4 south-easterly breezes.
The battle for the coveted Clyde Cup in the ten-race series (eight results counting) was settled only in the last race with a narrow yet emphatic win for Simon Fulford of Aldeburgh Yacht Club (AYC) in Whim, LL 137, with 9 points. In second place, ever in close contention, was Mark Bradshaw (CSC) in Pamina, LL 74, with 17 points, followed closely by Murray Caldwell (CSC) in Dolphin, LL 70, with 20 points. These former champions from north and south dominated the fleet but relentless in pursuit were three other yachts, only a point apart: Ripple (Phil Montague, AYC) with 51 points, Eden (Ari Liddell, AYC) with 52, and Pippin (Jimmy Robinson, AYC) with 53 in sixth place.
Similar close duels were repeated throughout the fleet and the championship saw its share of incident, broken spars and broachings, but in the final count honours were shared between older boats restored and the more recent builds and between Anglian and Scottish sailors, underlining once more the continuing well-being of one of the most successful classic small yacht classes in Britain.