Squib Cheeseboard and Mike Flint Trophy at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club
by Petru Balau 22 Apr 12:54 BST
The reigning national champions, Micky Wright and Alex Porteous, sailing on Spoof 811, won the 2025 edition of the RCYC Squib Cheeseboard, sponsored by Rice and Cole, while the Burnham Week 2024 winners, Ray Apthorp and Ian Simons, sailing on Chequemate 157, won the Squib Mike Flint Trophy 2025.
Any successful Squib sailing season at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, needs to start with consumption of large quantities of cheese and port, preferably after some sailing, to shake the cobwebs out of the sails.
As the weather complied, giving the fleet top-end wind strength, at least for Squibs, on a sunny, yet crisp Friday, the four scheduled races went ahead as planned, with the cheeseboard gracefully sponsored once again by Rice and Cole Boatyard.
Micky Wright and Alex Porteous, sailing Spoof 811 and reigning national champions, ran away with it, comfortably winning all four races, owing in great part to the various states of hibernation the rest of the fleet found themselves in.
As some of the fleet retired, citing needs of more boat bimbling, new masts or even crew conditioning, the Burnham Week 2024 winners, Ray Apthorp and Ian Simons, sailing on Chequemate 157, showed some more signs of alertness and finished the event in second place, with three seconds and a fourth.
The battle for third place was won by Malcolm Hutchings, crewed by daughter Portia and sailing on borrowed Humphrey 823, in front of class captain Phil Aspinall, crewed by Dave Hyde, sailing on the usual yellow boat, Guy Fawkes 72.
The fleet retired to the club house for the cheeseboard, not so large amounts of port, but copious other refreshments and later for the club's fish bistro, with some finishing the night at a local pub, enjoying a live band.
Saturday morning, the first day of the Mike Flint Trophy, looked a bit iffy, as the Dragons cancelled their day of racing after only one race, citing too high gusts, yet, as the wind dropped a bit in the afternoon, the two scheduled races went ahead, on a course shared by the Squibs, the RCYC Dinghy Fleet and RBYC's RS Elite fleet, making for some interesting mark rounding.
The day seemed to follow the pattern established the day before, with Micky and Alex taking the win in the first race, with Humphrey 823, this time sailed by owner Robert Coyle and crewed by his son Tom, taking the second and Ray and Ian in third.
The second race saw the order reversed, with Ray and Ian taking the win, Robert and Tom in second and Micky and Alex in third, making the top three equal in points.
After a night of tapas and disco dancing, the Sunday brought in slightly colder weather, but more manageable winds and an earlier start for the racing.
The very closely fought first race was won by Phil, crewed by Julia Batchelor, with Micky and Alex in close second and Nic Tolhurst and Ross Corbett, sailing on What's The Story 779 in third, while Ray and Ian finished in fourth, 8 second behind.
With all left to play for in the last race and a discard in the books, the squibs started their race after the dinghies vacated the racing area.
Ray and Ian emerged as eventual winners, 22 odd seconds ahead of Micky and Alex and were crowned the 2025 winners of the Squib Mike Flint Trophy 2025, on countback, proving that a good discard is worth more than a bunch of second places.
The fleet is looking forward to the next event on the calendar, the Squib Gold Cup, an Open event to be held on 3rd/4th May 2025.
Squib Cheeseboard Results:
| Pos | Boat | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Spoof | 811 | Micky Wright | Alex Porteous | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2nd | Chequemate | 157 | Ray Apthorp | Ian Simons | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| 3rd | Humphrey | 823 | Malcolm Hutchings | Portia Hutchings | 4 | 3.5 | 3 | 3 | 13.5 |
| 4th | Guy Fawkes | 72 | Phil Aspinall | Dave Hyde | 3 | 3.5 | 5 | 5 | 16.5 |
| 5th | By The Lee | 868 | Scarlett Anderson | Carl Anderson | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 21 |
| 6th | Zoom | 92 | Tye Wichard | Keith Gilmore | 7 | OCS | 2 | RET | 27 |
| 7th | Squabble | 854 | Ian Scott | Iona Martin | 6 | 5 | DNC | DNC | 29 |
| 8th | What's The Story | 779 | Nic Tolhurst | Ross Corbett | RET | 7 | DNS | DNC | 34 |
Mike Flint Trophy Results:
| Pos | Boat | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Chequemate | 157 | Ray Apthorp | Ian Simons | 3 | 1 | ‑4 | 1 | 5 |
| 2nd | Spoof | 811 | Micky Wright | Alex Porteous | 1 | ‑3 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 3rd | Humphrey | 823 | Robert Coyle | Thomas Coyle / Malcolm Hutchings | 2 | 2 | ‑5 | 3 | 7 |
| 4th | Guy Fawkes | 72 | Phil Aspinall | Dave Hyde | 5 | 5 | 1 | ‑6 | 11 |
| 5th | What's The Story | 779 | Nic Tolhurst | Ross Corbett | 4 | 4 | 3 | ‑5 | 11 |
| 6th | Shifts & Giggles | 848 | Mark Flynn | Jonathan Beale | ‑7 | 6 | RET | 4 | 17 |
| 7th | By The Lee | 868 | Scarlett Anderson | Carl Anderson | 6 | 7 | (DNC) | DNC | 21 |