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Ajax 40th Anniversary Regatta at Royal Harwich Yacht Club
7-8 June 2008By James Skellorn 11 Jun 2008 06:20
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The Ajax 23-foot keelboat class celebrated 40 years of class racing at Royal Harwich Yacht Club with a regatta weekend on 7th-8th June. Twelve Ajaxes turned out and three Royal Harwich One Designs joined in the fun.
Saturday produced a brisk northerly and heavy rain. From a start at Pin Mill Telamon (Gordon Sutton) and Guillemot (David Mayne) set the pace. On the long run downriver against the tide Avocet (Doug Sharp) crossed early to the Pin Mill shore and took the lead. Several boats overdid their efforts to cheat the tide and found the mud. Around No. 2 buoy Avocet led the way back, covering Guillemot carefully, chased by Artemis (Malcolm Mackley) and Mars (Chris Brown). A few yards from the finish Guillemot slipped the cover to win on the line and then Artemis added insult to injury by taking second place from Avocet.
The second race was a quick fire figure of eight course off the clubhouse. Mars and Guillemot contested the lead. Pegasus (David Kerridge) worked her way through to third on the second lap, but then hoisted her spinnaker by the clew. Mars won narrowly from Guillemot, with Avocet third.
Sunday produced warm sun, and a fickle northerly breeze that shifted and varied in the humid air. Once again the battle at the front was between Mars and Guillemot, with Goosander (John Pack) in contention. The light run against the tide shuffled the order. At the leeward mark Guillemot led from Mars with Pegasus third, and that was how it finished.
In race 4 the wind went lighter and became even trickier to read. At the weather mark Avocet led from Puffin (David Pearce), but a hole in the wind on the run turned the order upside down. Guillemot went down the Pin Mill shore to get back into contention. Goosander, Mars and Artemis led down the Nacton shore. Goosander led round the leeward mark, but tried to hold their spinnaker on the leg up river, letting Guillemot through. In the shifting breeze, Artemis passed both of them to win a short race. Overall, Guillemot won narrowly from Mars.
The tight racing and restricted waters led to many racing incidents, penalty turns and keen analysis in the bar afterwards of who had done what to whom.
The weekend was a fitting celebration for a class characterised by close competitive racing. Class captain Charles Rice and race officer Graham Ireland put in a lot of hard work to make the event a success.
Overall Results:
1st Guillemot, David Mayne, 4 pts
2nd Mars, Chris Brown, 7 pts
3rd Artemis, Malcolm Mackley, 10 pts
4th Avocet, Doug Sharps, 10 pts
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