Folkboat Nationals at Royal London Yacht Club
by Simon Osgood 11 Jul 2006 12:53 BST
7-9 July 2006
This year's Folkboat National Championship was sailed under the burgee of the Royal London Yacht Club at Cowes.
The event commenced on Friday 7th July with a strong fleet from all corners of the Solent, Lymington, Yarmouth, Cowes and Hamble.
Day one involved two ‘round the cans’ races and the weather forecast did provide wind (approximately force four) and the occasional shower ideal Folkboat conditions. Racing for the day started from the Royal London committee boat stationed south of Hill Head.
Race one sent the fleet around the central Solent, Svenja (Mike Stoner) set out their intent for the Championship leading to the first mark, closely followed by So! (Simon Osgood) and Tak (Ado Jardine & Jeremy Austin). As the race progressed So! overhauled Svenja to take the first bullet of the Championship and Crackerjack (Stuart Watson & Matthew Jones) hauling themselves through the fleet to take third.
Race two started in much the same conditions with dark clouds looming over the fleet. A twenty minute postponement took place as the committee allowed the 89 Squibs pass near their start line who were competiting at their National Championship off Hill Head.
Racing recommenced with a course allowing the committee to finish the fleet at Snowdon near the entrance to the Medina. Again Svenja showed excellent boatspeed out of the blocks, with Tak, So! and Padfoot (Chris Hills) in contention for the podium positions. The big tactical decision was when to cross the flood tide from the mainland to the finishing mark. As the fleet crossed the Solent, Padfoot and So! had overhauled Svenja and Tak, battling for the bullet. The two boats crossed the line two seconds apart with So! just edging out Padfoot into second and finishing a successful first day.
Day two provided some ideal conditions, the sun came out and yet again a steady force four. The day saw windward leeward laid courses with the committee boat laid just to the south of East Knoll. Three races were planned and yet again the conditions were idyllic. Two yachts which had effectively had a slow start to the Championships by their high standards were Madelaine (Edward Donald) and Crackerjack, this was all to change today with both boats revelling in the conditions. Madelaine stormed away in race one taking the bullet from Crackerjack race two saw a reversal of these positions leaving the day to belong to whoever took the third race.
The third race was a straight forward ‘two sausages’. Crackerjack, Tak, Svenja and Madelaine battled for the podium position. Svenja dropping the lead on the second mark to Crackerjack who maintained this to the finish and claiming a very successful day. Special note must go to Padfoot having hauled themselves from last to third.
With the final day looming positions were close. Crackerjack had a Championship lead by a point from the ever consistent Svenja with only three points separating the next three of Madelaine, So! and Tak (in that order) races six and seven were to prove interesting to see who was going to take the Championship.
The day brought 30 knot winds registering off the Brambles Bank but the Folkboat being the boat it is still managed to venture out to Osborne Bay for their two scheduled races. The Etchell and Dragon fleets looked on as the boats left Shepards Wharf as their racing had been abandoned for the day. It wasn’t to be So’s! day as they broke their gooseneck fitting hoisting the main just outside the harbour, leaving the final to commence without them.
Short triangular course were laid in Osbourne Bay each of the top four boats knowing what they had to do to win the Championship.
Race one was an extremely close affair with Crackerjack taking the bullet followed closely with Svenja and Tak. Race two saw Tak revel in the conditions. The fleet chopped and changed positions many times as the wind shifted as the yachts made for the windward mark, stationed just in the lee of the Bay. Tak maintained their lead to the finish with the evergreen Crackerjack second and Madelaine taking a third with only seconds separating the next two boats.
The Championship was over and Crackerjack had done it. Their first National title and thoroughly deserved. They were followed by Svenja who had only been outside the top three once during the regatta, demonstrating how close the racing was. Madelaine took the final podium position just ahead of last years National Champions Tak. It was good to see the next places filled by fleet newcomers Padfoot and Evelyn (Penny Fulford) the latter was the boats first outing since its purchase earlier in the year.
Thanks go to all those who helped organise this excellent event especially The Royal London Yacht Club.
Overall Results:
1st Crackerjack (Stuart Watson & Matthew Jones) RLymYC
2nd Svenja (Mike Stoner) HRSC
3rd Madelaine (Edward Donald) RSolentYC
4th Tak (Ado Jardine & Jeremy Austin) RLymYC
5th Padfoot (Chris Hills) RLymYC
6th Evelyn (Penny Fulford) RCYC
7th So! (Simon Osgood) RSolentYC
8th Milly (Richard Webb) RLymYC
9th Freya (Bob Allen) HRSC
10th Good Shepherd (Keith Whitelaw) LTSC