Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship 2007

Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship 2007 - Weekend 3

by Steve Sleight 23 Jul 2007 12:24 BST 21-22 July 2007

Four good races in the third round of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship © Steve Sleight

Four good races for Red Funnel fleets

The third round of the Red Funnel Cowes Keelboat Championship was run by the Royal Thames Yacht Club at the weekend.

Two races a day were sailed on Saturday and Sunday on windward leeward courses set to the north of the Brambles Bank. Saturday's first race got underway with the morning's sunshine being replaced by a leaden sky with a 10-15 knot south southwesterly. During the race heavy rain squalls swept through the course bringing large shifts to keep the sailors on their toes.

The rain relented after Saturday's first race and the sky cleared but as the sunshine appeared so the wind dropped and became fluky. After a postponement to allow the breeze to settle, a nice 7-8 knot southwesterly blew up the Solent and this was to build quickly to around 20 knots, giving all the fleets a more challenging second race.

On Sunday, the fleets enjoyed better conditions with sparkling sunshine and a 10-15 knot southwesterly giving great racing.

Etchells

Only two Etchells came to the line for their first race with Ragtime leading Palaver to the finish after two rounds of the windward leeward course.

In the second race a change of course had been signalled with three beats and two runs, finishing at the end of the third beat at the windward mark. This time it was Palaver that led the way with Ragtime finishing second.

On Sunday, only Ragtime came out to play and although the race officer gave them a start and they sailed the course in each race, they couldn't be scored as two boats are needed for a valid race.

Darings

The Darings had a fleet of 13 boats out on Saturday. Their first race was dominated by rain squalls and large wind shifts catching out the unwary. The course gave two beats and three runs with the finish at the end of the third run.

When the Darings rounded their leeward mark at the end of the first round a large left hand shift saw the fleet laying the windward mark for the first part of beat but the wind eventually went back at least some of the way.

Decoy led the fleet home convincingly followed by Double Knot with Division Belle in third.

The Daring start for the second race was hotly contested with many favouring the pin end but Defiant was judged over and was scored OCS as they did not return to restart.

Decoy popped out of the start in a good position and showed blistering speed upwind to lead the fleet. She went on to take a comfortable win, adding to her previous five wins to keep a perfect score in this series so far. Second was Defender, improving on her sixth in the first race. Third was Division Belle repeating her result of race one.

On Sunday, it was again Decoy leading the fleet home in the first race ahead of Defender, with Double Knot in third.

The start of the second race saw Decoy get an uncharacteristically poor start and at the windward mark it was Defiant which led a closely bunched fleet.

Defiant set off down the run with Decoy moving up to third place and looking to make it four wins in a row. But it was not to be as Defiant went on to win ahead of Double Knot, with Daring 1 taking third and Decoy slipping back to sixth. But with three wins out of four, it was definitely Decoy's weekend.

Dragons

The Dragons had a small fleet of five boats out on Saturday. Their first race was won by Gavia Wilkinson Cox in Jerboa ahead of Caramba with Njord taking third.

In the Dragons second race on Saturday, it was the turn of Njord to take the winner's gun ahead of Caramba taking another second with Jerboa in third.

On Sunday six boats came to the line. The first race was won by Jerboa with Virago second and Caramba third. The second race saw a change in the pecking order. This race was won by Owen and Josy Pay's Njord ahead of Caramba with Virago third.

Sonars

For the first time in this series the Sonars made an appearance with two boats from the Island Sailing Club's charter fleet taking part in Saturday's first race and three coming to the line for the second.

Sonar number 562 won the first race with 577 taking second. In the second race 577 took the gun with 562 second and 561 third.

On Sunday, three Sonars raced and both races were won by 577 with 561 and 562 swapping the honours for second and third in the two races.

The next round of the series will be held on 8-9 September and will be run by the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club.

Results: (top three)

Etchells

Saturday Race 1
1 Ragtime
2 Palaver

Saturday Race 2
1 Palaver
2 Ragtime

Darings

Saturday Race 1
1 Decoy
2 Double Knot
3 Division Belle

Saturday Race 2
1 Decoy
2 Defender
3 Division Belle

Sunday Race 1
1 Decoy
2 Defender
3 Double Knot

Sunday Race 2
1 Defiant
2 Double Knot
3 Daring 1