All still to play for in the JOG 2017 Championships
by Pandie Bronsdon, JOG 19 Aug 2017 15:12 BST
19 August 2017
We are just over midway through the JOG season and there is still plenty to play for in the 2017 Championship. Racing so far has been challenging in many ways with a wide range of conditions and starting / finishing numbers across all the classes.
Double Handed entries are doing very well against fully crewed boats and special mention must go to 'Felix', who were the only finishers in a particularly long and tough C-Data Dartmouth race over the weekend of 12th-13th August. One comment from Christoph was "There was a stretch at St Albans when we tacked for 1-2hrs without making much progress. At that time we seriously asked ourselves whether we should retire to Poole. However, it was not raining and wind never exceeded mid twenties..." The all important "not raining" is in there – not that yours truly has ever noticed rain when racing, other than maybe to wash the salt off the pork pies!
C-Data Cowes - Dartmouth
Class 5 "Felix" Christoph Friedrich
The Weymouth race in late July also had some interesting challenges with a forecast of c40 knots mid way through the preceding week turning into a much more reasonable high teens at the weekend. On both occasions the race Committee and Flag Officers held much discussion around the viability of racing, resulting in the call not to abandon but instead to leave all decisions whether to race up to Skippers. Who would be a Race Officer.
Cowes - Weymouth
Class 3 "Prime Suspect" Andy Hill
Class 4 "Elaine" Mike Bridges
Class 5 "Alexa" Mark Wynter
Class 6 "Spectrum" Joe Simmons
The cumulative leaders after 11 races are:
Inshore Series (Cat 4)
Class 3 "Dusty P" Richard Patrick
Class 4 "Elaine" Mike Bridges
Class 5 "Shades of Blue" Ed Holton
Class 6 "Spectrum" Joe Simmons
Double Handed "Jester" David Cowell
Offshore Series (Cat 3)
Class 3 "Assasin" Mark Brown & Justin Leese
Class 4 "Just So" David & Will McGough
Class 5 "Longe Pierre" David Cooper & Paul England
Class 6 "Raffles" Peter Cover & Matt Stiles
Double Handed "Double Trouble" David Thompson
There are two more Cat 3 and five Cat 4 races still to take place in a programme running through to October and JOG Week 2018 planning is also well underway. This will be held in the West Country and will have a feeder race from the Solent. Details for all of the above can be found on the web site
Next JOG Race: Cowes – St Peter Port, Friday 25th August, first start 19:00 BST.
Entries close at Midnight on Monday 21st August. This is usually a good race with some interesting tides and a good reception in the Guernsey Yacht Club.
Entry Forms, full race programme & crew available/boats looking for crew information all now available online at www.jog.org.uk