Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship 2007 - Weekend 2

Light winds dominate second round of Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship

The forecast for the weekend's round of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship, run by the Royal London Yacht Club, wasn't promising but the reality proved to be better than expected.

No wind on Saturday morning did not bode well for the Darings, Dragons, Etchells, and 6 Metres who were to contest the second weekend of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship. The fleets headed out for a committee boat start near the north shore, but once there the wind died and the familiar windless central Solent blues descended as the crews sat and watched filled spinnakers run towards them from the east and the west!

Eventually, a start was signalled in a light southwesterly but from a heavily biased start line that made the committee boat end the only place to be. A long windward leeward course was set with all fleets sailing two rounds for the first race of the day.

This was the first occasion of the year that 6 Metres had raced with the Cowes fleets and it was good to see eight of these interesting metre boats with a variety of classic and modern designs. Wildcat II won their first race by nearly three minutes from Battlecry with Caprice in third another four minutes back. Seven Etchells came to the line for their start, all looking for race practice ahead of their World Championship, which is only two weeks away.

The top local boat so far this year has been Nils Razmilovic in Matatu and he sailed away to win by over half a minute in the first race of the day. In second was Graham Bailey in Arbitrator with Alistair MacLeod's Take Two in third. Next away were the 11 boats in the Daring fleet. This was to turn into a battle between Richard Ottoway in Decoy and Giles Peckham sailing Dauntless. At the finish, it was Ottoway by 24 seconds with Defender in third.

The Dragons were the smallest fleet with six boats and they were led home after the 90 minute race by Chris Brittain's Caramba ahead of Gavia Wilkinson- Cox in Jerboa and Own Pay's Njord in third.

Time was getting late and crews restless by the time the second races of the day could get underway. Without a separate start and finish line, the race committee had to wait for all fleets to finish, so it wasn't until 1540 when the last of the Dragons had finished that the 6 Metres got the next sequence underway.

The course was changed for the second race with the leeward mark moved to windward of the start line, and with the finish line at the windward mark, allowing the boats to be closer to home when they finished. The committee also shortened the courses at the windward mark second time round, perhaps realising that the racers were keen to get to the bar.

Unfortunately, the committee - who didn't impress the competitors this weekend - didn't see fit to adjust the line angle and again it was heavily biased to the committee boat end.

Among the 6 Metres, GBR 96 showed Wildcat II the way home, winning by over a minute with Battlecry in third.

The Etchells start saw a general recall for a fleet of only seven boats! This, together with the race committee's choice to run the starts at ten minute intervals, rather than usual five, meant extra time hanging around for the other classes, all of whom were itching to race and get ashore.

Nils Razmilovic was again on form, leading the Etchells race with a minute lead over Martine and Neil Payne's Selection Box, with Graham Bailey taking third. Richard Ottoway's Decoy made it a perfect double by winning the second Daring race, with Giles Peckham in Dauntless again in second, but this time it was Damsel in third.

Fuzzy Duck VI won the Dragon race with Njord second and Caramba third. The weather on Sunday was again light, with a forecast easterly of around 5 knots which actually delivered a bit more at times. The start was set near Hill Head to the north of the Brambles with a flooding tide helping the boats up the beat. This, together with a shorter course, made for quicker and closer races than the day before.

In the 6 Metres, the day belonged to Cream with two firsts. But with Wildcat II taking two seconds, to add to her first and second from Saturday, it was Wildcat II which came out on top for the weekend.

In the Etchells, 1332 took the first race ahead of Arbitrator and Selection Box but, mysteriously, none were seen to finish the second race!

Richard Ottoway's Decoy rounded off the perfect weekend in the Darings by taking both races on Sunday when 18 boats came to the line,. In the first race of the day, after the second general recall of the weekend, Dauntless was second, with Audax third.

Race two saw the wind die just before the start, catching many Darings some way behind the line, then a large shift halfway up the first beat shuffled the order again.

But nothing could stop Decoy this weekend and she sailed away to the win leaving it to Defender to take the runner's up slot in the final race with Dolphin third.

Fuzzt Duck VI won the first race of the day in the Dragon fleet with Caramba second and Jerboa third. Njord took her only win of the weekend in the final race with Caramba again second and Supremacy third.

The next round of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Series will be held on 21-22 July and will be run by the Royal Thames Yacht Club.

Remaining dates of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship:

21-22 July, Royal Thames Yacht Club
8-9 September, Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club
22-23 September, Royal Yacht Squadron
6-7 October, Royal Corinthian Yacht Club

For results visit cowes.result.vg