Jersey Pallot Windows Frostbite Series - Race 1
by Bill Harris 4 Nov 2010 11:45 GMT
31 October 2010
Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club's Pallot Windows Frostbite Series day 1 © Bill Harris
The first race in the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club’s Pallot Windows Frostbite Series, held in St Aubin’s Bay on Saturday 31st October, proved to be a great opening to this popular winter series. The moderate, occasionally fresh, easterly breeze coupled with flat seas provided excellent racing conditions throughout the morning.
Starting at ten o’clock on the St Helier YC line in the Small Roads leading to St Helier harbour, four boats in IRC class 1 were away first with David Jones’ First 34.7 Jackana establishing an early lead on the white sail reach to the East Rock buoy. Spinnakers were hoisted on rounding the mark for the run to the West Mark on the far side of the Bay. Here, Rhys Perkins & partners A35 Abracadabra eased ahead of Jackana to be first at the mark. After sailing a series of windward-leeward legs between the West Mark and the Balleine buoy Abracadabra led the way to take line honours after an hour and a half’s racing. It proved to be a nail-biting finish, however, as Jackana had pulled out all the stops to beat her archrival, finishing just three seconds behind on corrected time. Neil Maclachlan and Alex Ohlsson’s J109 Jai Ho finished a close third.
IRC class 2 and the Jersey Handicap class, each fielding six boats, were sent on their way ten minutes after the class 1 start to sail a similar but shorter course. Notably, Steve Pearl’s X79 Less Xpense, fresh from a comprehensive refit, executed a well-timed start to be first off the line to lead the way throughout the race, taking line honours and the race in IRC2 after an hour and a quarter. Unlike those trying hard in her wake, Less Xpense chose not to fly her spinnaker on the shy reach to the finish line. With a corrected time difference of forty seconds, Dave William’s Conrad 760 Tom Bombadil clinched second. Jeff Speller’s Farr 727 2Farr was third.
Sailing two-handed, Chris Fritot’s Hunter Sonata, Rondo of Cowes, was the top performer in the Jersey Handicap class, winning the race comfortably three minutes ahead of David Hall’s First 27.7 Vamos, the latter having taken line honours by nine minutes. Kevin Holden’s UFO27 Matchless was third. This race saw the welcome return of the Mischief24 Miss Mischief to the racing scene, being sailed single handed by Julian Rogers.
Overall Results:
Class 1 cruiser/racer
1 Abracadabra - Rhys Perkins & ptnrs (1.32.19)
2 Jackana - David Jones (1.32.22)
3 Jai Ho - Neil Maclachlan & Alex Ohlsson (1.33.57)
Class 2 cruiser/racer
1 Less Xpense - Steve Pearl (1.10.48)
2 Tom Bombadil - Dave Williams (1.11.28)
3 2Farr - Jeff Speller (1.11.58)
Class 3 cruiser/racer
1 Rondo of Cowes - Chris Fritot (1.23.53)
2 Vamos - David Hall (1.26.51)
3 Matchless - Kevin Holden (1.29.32)
Detailed results are available in the RCIYC and on www.rciyc.je . The next race in the series is scheduled for Sunday 14th November, also starting at 10am.