Norman Moore Trophy at Itchenor Sailing Club
by Rebecca Oldfield 31 May 2017 20:37 BST
27-28 May 2017
Start of the Norman Moore Trophy at Itchenor Sailing Club © Mary Pudney
The Swallow class at Itchenor Sailing Club has been racing for the Norman Moore Trophy every year since 1953. In this time, the annual open meeting has developed in to the premier home event for the National Swallow Class. This year's race had a slightly diminished fleet of 17 boats gathered together on Saturday morning in a solid 20-25 knots of breeze and sunshine for the first of five races.
Having recovered Jeremy Sibthorp by his feet following a pre-start crash gybe to avoid a Swallow contretemps ahead, Swift went on to open their score sheet with a win. Gwaihir lost a good initial lead but held off Echo to take second place.
By the two races in the afternoon Charlie Hartley, son of skipper James Hartley, had been substituted for the somewhat bruised and wet Jeremy and Swift was back to business, but by then the Gwaihir team had recovered their form and secured back-to-back wins. In race two Christine Graves's team Skua, helmed by Chris Creak was second, followed by Swift then Tony Glover's Darter. Race three saw the same first two with Bluff, taking the last podium place ahead of Migrant. Racers encountered a little congestion as they caught up the XOD fleet where the favoured mark exit crossed the incoming fleet. An exciting, yet expected condition when racing in Chichester Harbour.
The club was full in the evening as the current fleet and many past Swallow sailors gathered for a Gala Dinner to celebrate 70 years since the formation of the class in 1947 ahead of its inclusion in the 1948 Olympics.
Sunday was to be a very different sort of sailing. PRO Phillip Pascall managed to find a zephyr of breeze to start race four but with its 40-degree shifts and vagaries of strength there were plenty of traps for the unwary. The race was initially led by National Swallow Class chairman Malcolm Green sailing Archon but it was Bluff who eventually won with Echo taking the third. Gwaihir were pleased that there would now be a discard score allowed as otherwise they would have posted a very large total! The afternoon brought torrential rain but still hardly any wind so at 1500 the excellent race management team brought out the "N" flag and all were towed home for tea and prize giving.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 93 | Gwaihir | M & R Struckett, M Wigmore, C Hyatt | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4 |
| 2 | 7 | Swift | R Sutherland, J Sibthorp, P Brasier, J Hartley | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 6 |
| 3 | 64 | Bluff | H Fisher. A Langhorne. R House. C Weld. N Masding. | 13 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 11 |
| 4 | 87 | Echo | S Miller, C Hindson | 3 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 12 |
| 5 | 3 | Skua | C Graves, C Creek, N Boyd, D Maclean, R Nott, R Richardson | 11 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 14 |
| 6 | 86 | Migrant | Charles Fisher, Richard Thompson, Nigel Glennie | 4 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 15 |
| 7 | 74 | Archon | M Green. | 14 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 16 |
| 8 | 67 | Solitude | A Lunch, A Reid | 8 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 19 |
| 9 | 81 | Goosander | T Taylor, S Bell | 6 | 6 | 10 | DNC | 22 |
| 10 | 94 | Merlin | J Kinross. | 10 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 27 |
| 11 | 88 | Darter | T Glover. | 9 | 4 | DNF | DNC | 31 |
| 12 | 92 | Cockersoottie | C Prescot. | 5 | 14 | 12 | DNC | 31 |
| 13 | 79 | Stealth | A Fisk, P Shepherd, M Harris, R Heath | DNF | 10 | 9 | DNC | 37 |
| 14 | 60 | Whimbrel | P Snell, J Webber, M Cover | 7 | DNC | DNC | DNC | 43 |
| 15 | 76 | Harlequin | M Walker, J Govan | 15 | DNC | DNC | 10 | 43 |
Visiting guests can get involved with the Swallow Class at Itchenor Sailing Club by borrowing its sponsored 'ready to race' Swallow. The spare Swallow is available to use at Itchenor's Points Week on 12-16 June, the Swallow Championships weekend at Cowes on 15-16 July and Cowes Classics regatta on 17-21st July. Contact isc.swallow.capt@gmail.com for more information or to book.
Visit www.itchenorsc.co.uk for more information on the Swallow Class.