Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week - Day 8
by Rupert Holmes / CWL 9 Aug 2014 22:42 BST
2-9 August 2014
The final day of racing at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week delivered sparkling conditions with plenty of sun and wind, including gusts of 25 knots that gave exhilarating and energetic racing under predominately cloudless skies.
Much of the focus was on the White Group dayboats, where the overall class winners were decided. Malcolm Hutchings and Andrew Ramsey's Lady Penelope had already won the Squib class with a day to spare, having won all but one race. Sarah Everitt and Steve Warren-Smith's Aquabat was also secure in second place, while Duncan Grindley and Dave Ross' Surprise took third by a comfortable margin.
Hutchings' performance also gained him overall winner of both White Group and of the whole event for the second year running. "Winning overall last year came as a bit of a surprise, and we are just as surprised this year," Hutchings said. "It's wonderful to be taking this magnificent overall winners trophy back to the east coast once again, where some extremely big celebrations are on the cards. It is always a fantastic week – we come down here for the great competition, fun and the fantastic social scene and this week we revelled in it all."
In the Sportsboat class, three boats were vying almost neck and neck for the lead going into the final day. Glyn Locke's Viper 640 Fer de Lance and Chris Turner's VX One Zhik were again the first boats off the start line, with Locke setting his spinnaker first. When Turner threw in an early gybe to head offshore, Locke followed to cover him. However, it was the three VX Ones that triumphed in today's breezy conditions, with their ultra-light weight helping them power to impressive downwind speeds. This leaves Nathan Batchelor's Grapefruit Graphics heading the leaderboard on 11 points, with Turner second on 12 points and Locke third overall on 14 points.
The top of the Etchells scoreboard was similarly tight, with four boats having a mathematical chance of an overall win. Today's race was won by Nick Stagg's China White – his first victory of the week – which lifted him to overall winner, just three points ahead of the Downer Family's Moonlight. The other two boats in contention for the lead – Shaun and Emily Frohlich's Exabyte V and Rob Goddard's Stampede – posted disappointing seventh and eight places today. However, Frohlich held onto third overall, seven points ahead of Goddard.
Giles Peckham's Daring Dauntless won his class for a fourth successive year, with one fifth place spoiling an otherwise uninterrupted run of race wins. Jeremy Preston's Defender was similarly comfortable in second overall, with a string of second and third places all week. However, for the other boats in the fleet it was a high-scoring series and Diana Christie's Finesse took third place with 34 points.
Gavia Wilkinson-Cox had a successful week in her Dragon, Jerboa, leading the fleet for most of the event and scoring only podium results giving her first in class overall. Graham and Julia Bailey's Aimee took second place, on 16 points, and Eric Williams' Ecstatic third on 26 points.
After a long dominance by John and Rupert Mander, this year the Flying 15 class saw a different name at the top of the leaderboard, with John Hanson's Hakuna Kutoa Katika winning overall with a day to spare. A win in today's race, his third victory of the week, wasn't enough to lift John Mander's Men Behaving Badly into second place, which went to Nick Clarke's Black, with Mander taking third.
The Mermaid class was also closely fought at the top, with several boats in contention for the overall lead. A win for Jo and Alex Neill's Cynthia today sealed her overall victory, just two points ahead of Guy Mattinson and Jeremy Pocock's Mimosa, while John Sandiford Haigh's Dragonfly took third overall.
The 25-strong Redwing class saw two boats – Bruce Huber's Quail and John Raymond and Matt Alexander's Harlequin – just one point apart at the head of fleet at the start of the final race. Today Caroline Peel's Redstart ll was first to finish, followed by Harlequin, but both had started prematurely. This left Quail as winner of today's race, with Hugo Cuddigan's Capella ll in second place and Jonathan Nainby-Luxmoore's Snowgoose ll third. With a discard kicking in today, this left Quail as overall winner on eight points, with Harlequin able to discard today's OCS to take second overall on 11 points. Capella ll's good result today saw her lifted to third overall on 14 points.
In the RS Elite class Jono Brown's Aeolus emerged as a clear winner, with four first places and one second. Chris Preston's Limelight took second overall on 12 points and Martin Wadham's Kiss third on 19 points.
However, the overall results of the J/70 class could hardly have been closer, with the top four boats separated by only three points. Simon Ling's RAF Benevolent Fund took first place on 10.5 points, while Wouter Kollmann's Plaj was second on 10.5, Jack Davies' Jugador third on 12 points and Ian Wilson's Wilson Covers fourth on 13 points. Davies' result also earned his crew the Aberdeen Asset Management Under 25 Trophy.
In the SB20 class Jerry Hill's Sportsboatworld.com finished with a commanding points lead on Rob Gullan's F5 Synthesis to take the overall win, while Mark Gillett's Poor Buoy took third overall.
Jon Powell's Betty took the overall victory in the J/80 class with four race wins and one second place, while Colin Simonds' Doolalli 4 took second overall with 13 points. With the top two boats dominating the racing, Douglas Struth's DSP was third overall, with 26 points.
The Sonar class has seen a tight battle all week between Alistair Barter and Ed Suckling's Bertie and Andy Cassell's Jenny, with the two boats separated by just two points going into the final day. Cassell won today's race, but Barter finished just 39 seconds later in second, which sealed his overall victory by just one point. Third place today for Alex Gooch's Shoreham Youth Team saw the three-way battle for third overall resolved in his favour, which sees his team take second place in the Aberdeen Asset Management Under 25 Trophy.
A successful week for Roger Wickens' Solent Sunbeam Danny saw him take overall victory with a margin of 10 points. However, there was a close three-way battle for second overall between Stewart Reed's Firefly, who finished with 16 points, and Johnny Hornby's Melody who took third with 17 points. Humphrey van der Klugt's newly-launched Misty was just one point adrift in fourth place.
In the Swallow class Harry and Prue Roome's Skua had an unassailable lead going into the final day, with Mike Wigmore and Mark Struckett's Gwaihir also looking secure in second place overall. However, two boats –Clive Bush's Spectre and Anthony Lunch's Solitaire – were just one point apart in the battle for third place overall. In a tight finish Spectre crossed the line today in second place, just over three minutes ahead of Solitude, in fifth position. This gives Bush third overall by a margin of four points.
In its 80th year, the Victory class enjoyed close racing, with seven boats from the 18-strong fleet taking a podium finish at some point during the week. Janet Dee and Shaun Hopkins' Variety won the class overall with 12 points, clear ahead of Jim Downing's Ziva and Kim Taylor's Zest, both tied on 17 points. The count back was resolved in Ziva's favour, thanks to her two second places.
The XOD fleet was the only White Group class today to start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line, heading west on a wet two-mile first beat in a steep wind against tide chop. With the strong ebb tide sweeping the fleet over the line, the fleet was uncharacteristically cautious, no doubt in recognition of just how long it would take a premature starter to return to the correct side of the line.
Most boats started towards the middle or outer end of the line, although the first boat to cross the line, some five or six seconds after the gun, was Rory, Amanda and Stuart Paton's XL, starting at the inshore end. John Tremlett and Jeremy Lear's Lass, Willy McNeill and Ted Tredrea's Lara and Michael Martell, Fraser Graham and Tim Copsey's Astralita were next best placed, towards the outer end of the line.
Although XL crossed ahead of almost the entire fleet on port tack, Lass passed ahead of her and was still leading on the first run as the fleet passed Gurnard marsh under spinnaker. However, a tightly packed bunch of following boats threatened to blanket her wind and she slipped to fourth place later on the run, with the lead passing to Astralita, around 10 lengths ahead of tight pack of seven or eight overlapped boats.
At the end of today's race, which saw 23 boats finish in under four minutes, Astralita was still leading, with Alastair Ashford's Foxglove second and Tom Vernon's Silhouette third.
Lass started the final day with a large enough cushion to comfortably win the series, counting only 10 points. However, the fight for second place in the 80-strong fleet could not have been closer. Foxglove's second place today lifted her to second overall on 29 points, just two points ahead of Andy Shaw's Phoenix. David Palmer's Princess Jalina finished 14th today, leaving him fourth overall on 32 points, while James Meaning's Gleam was able to discard today's 20th place to finish fifth overall on 33 points.
The lively weather on the final day wrapped up a great week of racing that featured plenty of sun and a mix of winds that tested crews in different ways. Next year's Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week runs from August 8-15, a slightly later date than usual in order to avoid strong spring tides.
www.aamcowesweek.co.uk