Man of Kent at Herne Bay Sailing Club

Sunday 22 September

Herne Bay SC hosted the annual Man Of Kent regatta on Sunday 22 September. With a forecast of 4-5 north-westerly increasing 6-7, 30 boats launched into the choppy Thames Estuary. After a few delays as the course was set by Race Officer Ted Temple in the difficult conditions including a Gale Force 8 warning, the fleet got away a first time in a breeze that had increase to a Force 6.

First at windward mark was the Hurricane of Simon Northrop and Matt Young from Minnis Bay SC followed by the bulk of the fleet. With the 29er of Chris Catt and Nikki Catt from Downs SC and Chris Rebbeck from Broadstairs SC capsizing at the mark, the spinnaker flying boats opted to stick to two sails on the next reach. This allowed the Contenders of Richard Buttner of RCPYC (Dover) and Alan Mollett of Sandwich Bay SC plus Colin Smith and Nathan Hudson in an Albacore from Herne Bay to keep pace with the Buzzs and RS400s.

Over the next couple of laps the wind increased further and a number of competitors opted to retire and return to shore after a few capsizes and only 20 boats finished this race. The winners after handicap correction was the Hurricane of Simon Northrop and Matt Young with Richard Buttner 2nd and Colin Smith and Nathan Hudson in third.

With the wind having dropped a little towards the end of the first race, the Race Officer started the second race immediately after the first race. The fleet had for this race dwindled to 17 as further competitors decided the conditions were a bit tiring. Again the fleet got off to a clean start and again the Hurricane reached the windward mark first. This time though in the slightly calmer conditions the spinnaker flying boats all opted to use their spinnakers and raced down the offwind leads lead by Chris and Nikki Catt in the 29er and Ed Styles and crew in their Buzz from Downs SC.

The wind again steadily increased during the race to the Force 6 mark and this led to some very exciting planning, but with the reduced fleet being much better able to handle the conditions, fewer capsizes. After corrected time the Buzz to Ed Styles won the race with Richard Buttner second and Chris and Nikki Catt third.

The Race Officer decided to abandon the third race as the wind continued to increase giving concerns about the safety of launching and landing. Overall results showed that the 'Man of Kent' this year was Richard Buttner from RCPYC with the team of Simon Northrop and Matt Young from Minnis Bay in second. The leading Herne Bay boat was Colin Smith and Nathan Hudson in fifth place, but they led Herne Bay Sailing Club to the team trophy with the other members of the 3 boat team being Roger Hodgkison in a Dart 15 and Dai Griffiths with his daughter Amy Mackman in a Pacer.