SailEAST Final Weekend at Dabchicks Sailing Club

An exciting end of the SailEAST season

The final weekend of the 2010 SailEAST series promised to be an exciting one, with all of the major places still up for grabs, the promise of good winds and of course a great party on the Saturday night!

A total of 23 yachts entered the weekend and the competition was fierce from the beginning of Race 1, with a combined start for Classes 3 and 4 leaving to some excitement on the startline and everyone tried to get the weekend off to a great start. The PRO set a long course, with plenty of turns to get everyone in the mood and working up a sweat. The wind was variable and this caused many changes at the front of the fleet. Class 4 was won by Monkey Business, helmed by Rob Leggett and Class 3 by Harlequin who was just over a minute ahead of BillyWhizz. Class 2 presented a real challenge between the local J80’s and the visiting boats, but in the end Amazon was the winner. In Class 1, Kiss helmed by David Pinner was able to win by a show a clean pair of heels to Thrust and be first to the gun.

Race 2, saw the wind steady and continue to build with Class 3 and 4 starting together again. Scallywag and Monkey Business continued to battle for the lead with Julian Lord eventually winning the fight to bring Scallywag home 31 seconds in front. There was a similar battle in Class 3, with BillyWhizz leading home. Amazon continued to dominate the field in Class 2, leading from the start but hotly followed by Red Macaw and Claim Form for second and third. The battle in Class 1 was very close indeed, with Robbie Stewart’s Booty! leading the fleet home and 3 other finishes separated by less than 35 seconds. On handicap it was Thrust that won the day. Many of the Class 1/2 boats had an interesting finishing as strong gusts caused a few to spin out.

After a great party, the fleet assembled again for the final race, with the addition of Richard Matthew and the crew of Oystercatcher XXVIII all of whom had made the journey back from Ostend to take part! The wind had increased overnight and promised to present some very interesting conditions for the crews. Scallywag lead home Class 4, with Kehaar in second place – although the local Sonata thought it was more ‘survival’ that racing! In Class 3, Harlequin again got the better of BillyWhizz and in Class 2, Amazon continued to dominate with another win. The conditions really suited Oystercatcher who finished the course in just over 90 minutes, and was chased home by Booty, but on handicap it was another win for Thrust.

Overall, the weekend belonged to Thrust, but they were closely chased by Booty! and Amazon. So, that brings the SailEAST season to a close, but the results for the season are expected soon and the planning for 2012 is almost complete – so watch this space for more news.

Pictures of the event can be found at www.dabchicks.org/images/yachts/saileast2011/index.htm