RS200 Open at Itchenor Sailing Club

by Caroline Marriage 28 May 2008 14:33 BST 25 May 2008

Itchenor Sailing Club hosted a very successful RS200 Open Meeting, as part of the South East Area Series, on Sunday. The weather forecast for the Bank Holiday weekend was dire but Chichester Harbour produced one of its glorious bright days with a fluctuating breeze which rewarded ten visitors who joined an equal number from the home fleet. All four races took place in a flooding tide which challenged the fleet when the wind dropped, and encouraged pin-end starts to shorten the dash for the shore on the first beat, to escape from the current.

In the first race Ben Saxton and Kate MacGregor did a horizon job on the fleet to give them a comfortable win. Dave and Emma Derby (father and daughter) won the fight for second place, while the 3rd, 4th and 5th-placed boats were all OCS, leaving Sam Tozer and Lucy Preston to take third.

The second race included the only general recall of the day and later the wind died almost completely. Despite a hairy leeward mark rounding, Pete Vincent and Tessa Nicholls led from start to finish. The Derbys again were second, followed in glorious third by Itchenor’s finest Rick Neall and Sara Terry.

Before the third race there was a long pause and an aborted starting sequence while Roddy Bridge, the PRO, showed great patience with the wind, chasing it first left then right. When the gun finally went several boats were caught well below the line due to the tide and struggled to start. Ben and Kate won the first beat and never looked in danger. Mike Chapman and Lynne Ratcliffe were second on the water but their OCS gave second place to the very consistent Derby family. Patch Fillery and Jo Hursell, the latest recruits to Itchenor’s ever-growing RS200 fleet, were third.

Going into the last race there were still three possible winners. At last there was a proper steady force 3 and glorious sunshine. Pete and Tessa just beat the late arrivals Steve Dunn and Rachel Jones to the windward mark and then a three-way tussle ensued between Ben and Kate, the Derbys and Pete and Tessa who led for 3½ laps before being pipped by Ben and Kate on the last run.

Ben and Kate’s three bullets gave them a well-deserved first and they were presented with the historic Itchenor Burgee Trophy by the Commodore. They also won the first Youth prize. In second were the Derbys, Dave winning the Master’s prize. Pete and Tessa were third, while the first lady helm was Hannah Yuill, crewed by Andy Robertson. The fleet enjoyed the legendary Itchenor tea and cakes on the lawn before the dinner for the RS200 fleet in the evening in the gleaming new dining room in the Clubhouse.

Grateful thanks to the PRO Roddy Bridge and his team and to our International 14 friends who took some wonderful photographs and video.

Overall Results:

SailNo	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1328	Ben Saxton	Kate MacGregor	Grafham Water SC	1	-5	1	1	3
999	David Derby	Emma Derby	Bough Beech SC	2	2	2	-3	6
1301	Pete Vincent	Tessa Nicholls	Bristol Corinthian YC	(OCS)	1	5	2	8
772	Tom Hewitson	Jo Hewitson	Broadwater SC	(OCS)	7	4	4	15
1117	Sam Tozer	Lucy Preston	Papercourt SC	3	9	-10	5	17
766	Harry Roome	Prue Roome	ISC	7	4	-9	6	17
596	Chris Fox	Mrs Fox	ISC	5	6	7	-8	18
59	Patch Fillery	Jo Hursell	ISC	(OCS)	8	3	12	23
854	Andrew Shaw	Jeremy Williamson	ISC	(OCS)	12	6	7	25
1235	Philip Pascall	Sue Kalderon	ISC	8	-13	8	9	25
486	Richard Neall	Sara Terry	ISC	4	3	(DNS)	DNS	28
1291	Hannah Yuill	Andy Robertson	?	9	10	-12	11	30
1152	Mrs Partington	Mrs Roberts	HISC	6	-16	11	15	32
941	Mike Chapman	Lynne Ratcliffe	Bough Beech SC	10	15	(DNF)	10	35
1194	Caroline Marriage	Jeremy Marriage	ISC	12	(DNF)	15	13	40
1109	Jason Merron	Andrea Barrass	ISC	13	-14	14	14	41
719	?	?	HISC	(DNS)	17	13	DNS	51
368	Pip Tagg	Rebecca de Lorenzo	ISC	(DNS)	11	DNS	DNS	53
1243	David Leach	Emma Harris	ISC	11	(DNF)	DNS	DNS	53
1313	Steve Dunn	Rachel Jones	?	(DNC)	DNC	DNC	DNC	63