Spitfire Europeans at Yaverland Sailing Club

By Chris Sproat 26 Jul 2006 11:49

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The fourth Spitfire European Championships was held at Yaverland Sailing Club on the eastern side of Isle of Wight. This years event was sponsored by Wightlink & Hyde sails to whom we must say a big thank you.

Entrants from UK, Belguim and France arrived to balmy conditions for the five day event. The original plan of four days of course racing and lay day with a long distance race had to be altered as we lost the first day due to lack of wind.

The conditions on the course varied from light 5-6 knots through to force 5 by the second to last day. In the early part of the week the thermally generated wind was best in the early AM so the fleet had no time for a lie in with 9.00 AM starts!

Every morning began with a full cooked breakfast and due to early starts the Galley crew were in at the crack of dawn to make sure we never went hungry.

On day two the wind was light and the racing was tight with small errors loosing competitors valuable places. The first race was won by Mike Scantlebury and David Harris with Yves and Liz Loday second. The next race was won by Crewsaver team Chris Sproat and Georgina Burke.

As usual in the Spitfire fleet there was plenty of evening entertainment which included a fish BBQ, Caribbean night complete with limbo dancing and a rave. The youths amongst the fleet carried on the party to early hours including a strong choral performance at the camp site!

Day three looked like another light wind affair but conditions changed as the breeze swung right and strengthened to a force 4. Three races were completed before the fleet stopped for brunch and then the wind died. Sproat / Burke won 2 and Jonathan Loday one.

The wind strength increased on day four to a good force 5 by the afternoon and the heavier crews came into their own with Alex Farr and Marcell Newbold winning two of the four races and the youth team of Adam Piggot and Greg Windle recording two seconds. Scantlebury and Harris sailed around the windward and spreader mark in the wrong direction in the first race and had to retire. Yves Loday was also black flagged.

By the end of day four Crewsaver team Sproat and Burke were in a commanding position 11 points ahead of second place.

On the final day the wind remained unstable for the entire morning and no course racing took place before the cut off time.

Two long distance races were held in the afternoon once the wind had filled crews swapped places and race one was won by Rosanna Jury and Chris Sproat and race two by Paul Jury and Madelaine Jury.

We would like to say a big thank you to Hyde Sails and Wightlink Ferries for sponsoring the event and also to Peter and Carol-Anne Pocock for excellent race management. Finally we would like to thank Yaverland Sailing Club for being excellent hosts for the event.

Overall Results:

1st Chris Sproat and Georgina Burke
2nd Jonathon Loday and Arnaud Gautier
3rd Alex Farr and Marcell Newbold
4th Adam Piggot and Greg Windle
5th Paul and Rosanne Jury

More Information:

• YachtsandYachting.com Spitfire Page

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