RS200 Firecracker at Itchenor Sailing Club

Itchenor Firecracker © Ras Turner

Itchenor Sailing Club's end of season regatta saw 16 RS200s challenged by a chilly and windy start to November. Both days saw breeze from the Northwest gusting between 12-20 knots with the wind chill making waiting between races become more important to keep yourself going, the attrition rate showed this as people slowly bowed out through each day.

Racing was held towards East Head beach with a beat against the tide for the first few races each day before the tide turned against the wind leading to a bumpy downwind ride in the frisky conditions.

Race 1 saw the pin end being favoured as you got in to the relief of the beach first but at the top of the beat the right hand side were able to lee-bow the tide and easily make the mark. George Yeoman & Sophie Ormsby managed to get right first and round the windward mark with a comfortable lead, followed by Tim Saxton & Holly Scott, Maria Stanley & Rob Henderson and Jack Holden & Libby Watkins. Over the next few laps George & Sophie managed to hold on to their lead with Maria & Rob challenging them all the way to the finish. Tim & Holly caught some weed and dropped back allowing Ben Ainsworth & Emma Lombard through to 4th, with Jack & Libby rounding out the top 3.

Race 2 saw more boats challenging toward the ship end looking to make the most of the tidal lift on the right, George & Sophie and Maria & Rob were both over the line and had to return. Meanwhile Jack & Libby led from Ben & Emma and Tim & Holly. Disaster struck for Jack & Libby as their pole line broke on the first run leading to them retiring from the race. Maria & Rob had caught up with the leading pack by this point and were working their way through with George & Sophie trying to catch up with Tim & Holly. On the last run a breeze coming down from behind allowed these 2 to gybe inside the group and take the lead up the last beat. But more controversy as Maria & Rob crossed the line to silence having not fully cleared themselves at the start handing the win to George & Sophie. Tim & Holy were 2nd and Greg Hall & Honor Fell stormed down the last run to take 3rd.

Race 3 had the tide slackening off and it became a race of playing the shifts after the first lap George & Sophie has a small lead over Tim & Holly and Jack & Libby, meanwhile Maria & Rob took an unplanned swim in a tack leading to them retiring from the race. Up the second beat Tim & Holly snuck past George & Sophie and were not to be seen again as they help comfortably to the lead with Jack & Libby scoring another 3rd. Ben & Emma can in for their third 4th of the day.

In the final race of the day the tide had turned leading to a big pin end bias and two boats were getting a bit cocky lining up for a port flier (Tim & Holly and George & Sophie). These 2 were appropriately blocked out by the fleet who got away cleanly and had to restart leading to a bit game of catch up, but with the wind now dying and the tide against downwind the choice of whether to heat up or drive low proved difficult. Tim & Holly made the most of these opportunities and whilst Maria & Rob sailed away to take their first win of the weekend Tim & Holly worked up to 2nd and George & Sophie squeaked by into 3rd.

Sunday proved to be similar conditions with the arrival of some additional boats from HISC. Race 5 and George & Sophie again started strong and managed to work their way to the favoured right hand side that for a while looked like it was not coming in. Maria & Rob looked to start where they left off and chased hard to finish in 2nd. Reigning National Champ Ben Palmer with Claire Walsh rounded out the top 3.

Race 6 saw Maria & Rob win the pin and come charging in from the left hand side to lead at the top mark from George & Sophie, Tim & Holly and Ben & Claire. Maria & Rob then proceeded to sail into the distance winning the race by nearly a minute. Behind things were much closer with a group of 4 boats were battling it our for the remaining positions with Jack & Libby gybing early down the second run and coming out strong. Tim & Holly managed to hold of the group up the last beat and went out to the right hand side of the run with George & Sophie gybing early only for Ben & Claire to roll them. Tim & Holly hit a lull at the very bottom of the run allowing the other 2 to sneak through on the inside relegating them to 4th whilst Ben & Claire took a hard earned 2nd.

Race 7 and the tide had turned and the wind picked up slightly making the race course bumpy with short sharp chop. Off the start the wind clocked left and as the fleet flopped over on to port it was George & Sophie who had popped out in front with Rob Gullan & Izzy Allerston. These two had a comfortable gap to the rest of the fleet and with the turning tide were able to extend away down the run. As the wind really started to pick up on the last lap fatigue and errors started to crop up, Tim & Holly managed the situation best to take 3rd ahead of Ben & Claire while a number of boats took a quick dip.

Race 8 was the final race of the event and the 16 strong fleet had depleted to only 8. George & Sophie led again at the top rounding just ahead of Tim & Holly and Ben & Claire. All three simultaneously gybed on the run in to a bug gust which saw all 3 overstanding. Ben & Claire had judged it best but couldn't quite overhaul Tim & Holly whilst George & Sophie fell back to 3rd. George & Sophie then hit Ben & Claire rounding the mark and had to do penalty turns leaving Tim & Holly to hold off the oncoming Ben & Claire. These 2 held these positions to the finish with Maria & Rob holding off Jack & Libby and AJ Dawson & Rachel Spain who finished 3rd, 4th and 5th.

Overall it was a fantastic way to round out the season for the 200s at Itchenor. Thanks to Roddy Bridge (PRO) and his team for managing to get so many races away so quickly and keeping us all moving in the challenging conditions.

Overall Results: