International Six Metre European Championships in Falmouth - Day 1
by Fiona Brown 22 Jul 2014 08:31 BST
15-26 July 2014
The opening day of the Six Metre European Championship 2014 hosted by the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club, Falmouth, opened with blazing sunshine, but not a breath of wind. The fleet went afloat on time for the planned 10.30 start, but it wasn't until almost 4 o'clock that the wind finally established itself sufficiently to get the first of two short but very enjoyable races underway.
The Modern Division enjoyed two fantastically close races. Defending European Champion GBR107 Valhalla, owned by Paul Smith, and Don Martin's CAN111 Blade Runner, spent the day duelling for the lead, leaving the pack trailing in their wake. In race one Blade Runner was victorious, while Valhalla turned the tables in race two. SWE114 Notorious, owned by Claes Henningsson, took third in race one and GBR94 Wildcat II, owned by Andy and Cathy Ash-Vie, third in race two.
The Modern's second race was to have the closest race finish of the day with Robin Richardson's GBR88 St Kitts, Robert Leigh-Wood's GBR90 Lyonesse and Notorious crossing the line simultaneously. The Race Committee was able to identify Lyonesse as the leading boat by a whisker and she was awarded fifth place, but they couldn't separate St Kitts and Notorious who were scored as joint sixth place.
The day's big controversy came in the Classic Division's race one when Matt Brooks' US55 Lucie, helmed by James A Hilton Sr, made a somewhat over enthusiastic approach at the committee boat end of the start line. Louis Heckly's FRA111 Dix Aout, helmed by Bernard Divorne, had been lined up for the perfectly, but was forced to bear away hard to avoid hitting Lucie. Off the line Lucie immediately tacked off onto port and led the race from start to finish. Back ashore Dix Aout put in a protest and the committee found in her favour, disqualifying Lucie from the race. With Lucie out, the race one winner was Peter Hofman's US83 Llanoria with Andy Postle's GBR22 Titia second and Rainer Muller's KC10 Gallant third.
In the Classic's second race Llanoria was over eager and failed to respond to the hail to re-cross the line so added an OCS to her second place. Flapper, who had finished sixth in race one, was also declared OCS. Sir Peter Harrison's Nada, helmed this week by Andy Beadsworth, sailed a lovely race to win from Titia with Lucie third. Nada had finished ninth in the opening race and when asked about the disparity in their two race results Andy Beadsworth wryly answered, "Helmsman error!"
With two races completed Titia now leads the Classic Division overall on four points with Gallant second on seven points and Nada third on nine points. In the Modern Division Valhalla and Blade Runner are tied for the lead on three points with Notorious lying third on 9.5 points.
After racing the International Six Metre Association's Annual General Meeting was hosted by the National Maritime Museum Cornwall, and Matt Brooks, owner of US55 Lucie, was elected as the new International Class President. Outgoing President Beat Furrer, owner of SUI104 Temptation 3, was thanked for his many years of outstanding service and in particular for his work in producing the ISMA Journal twice a year.
Tomorrow's forecast is for light and variable north to northeasterly winds. With more light winds forecast for later in the week the Race Officer has taken the precaution of issuing a change to Sailing Instructions to allow three races on Tuesday, rather than the originally published two, and all fingers are crossed for a good sea breeze.
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