Squib Southern Championship at Royal Torbay Yacht Club
by Keith Davies 12 Jul 2021 18:35 BST
3-4 July 2021
Over the weekend of the 3rd and 4th July after a few last minute drop-outs, four Squibs made their way from various parts of the UK for the Southern Championships.
After rigging and craning in, and teams catching up since the last championships back in 2019 for some, Race Officer and RTYC Commodore Phil Rumbalow discussed a plan for the first day's racing. It had originally been planned for 3 races a day, but the fleet were keen for as many starts and manoeuvres to shake ourselves into action and have good training and a good championship over the weekend.
It was settled that the fleet would do 4 or 5 two lap windward / leeward races with a short line to make us all work hard with a race duration around the 40 minute mark.
As the fleet lined up for race one all boats were a little rusty and slow off the mark the breeze in the bay was south westerly at a little over 10 knots and forecast to build slightly.
The team of David Wines and Keith Davies in White Magic 828 were first round the windward mark closely by Glenn Pritchard and Steve Allso sailing Mayhem 754 with Chris Hill and James Pritchard in Wildfire 104 a few lengths back being chased down by Ricochet 136 with father and son team of Mark Hogan and his 9 year old son Harrison having his first competitive outing in the family Squib. The positions stayed steady down the first run and on the second beat tacking on the shifts was the order of the day with positions changing all the time. With White Magic regaining the lead just before the windward mark and gybe setting for the final run to the finish and held off an attack from Mayhem to take the win in the first race of the day. Followed by Wildfire and Ricochet now being helmed by Harrison so his Dad could do the spinnaker work.
With the wind staying consistent in strength and direction RO Phil and his team quickly fired off the next two races with the results of race one being repeated.
Shortly after the start of race 4 the breeze started to drop against all the forecast information with 828 finding a large hole as they headed off on the second beat it was going to be a snakes and ladders final lap. Mayhem sailed a faultless race to take a first win with the Hogans following closely behind with White Magic in 3rd and Wildfire following. Four races was plenty for the day and all teams headed back to the hospitality of the Royal Torbay Yacht Club to watch the rugby, talk sailing and boat setups except for Harrison who went off with Mark to go crabbing in the harbour and to get an ice cream.
A damp start to Sunday dawned and following a quick discussion two races were be run prior to the forecast huge wind shift and torrential rain. The squibs were joined in Torbay by the RTYC dinghy, sportsboat and cruiser fleets. The first race of the day was to be a W/L over a short course of 4 laps with Mayhem tacking on an early shift to lead White magic at the first mark with Wildfire and Ricochet close behind. This order stayed constant for the four rounds. As the final race of the weekend got under way the wind had started to drop and the light weight crew on Ricochet had found the conditions to their liking and led at the first mark with Mayhem in second, from White Magic in third. Unfortunately for Harrison and Mark they couldn't hold off Mayhem who took the lead on the final lap and with it the regatta win, with White Magic in third it wasn't enough for David and Keith.
Well Done to all who made the journey down to Torquay, we'll done to Glenn Pritchard and Steve Allso in Mayhem winning by a point from David Wines and Keith Davies in White Magic. Mark and Harrison Hogan were third by a point from Chris Hills and James Pritchard in Wildfire.