Cherub Nationals at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy
by Daryl Wilkinson 26 Jul 2004 08:18 BST
The UK Cherub Nationals took place over a week long regatta alongside the International Moths European Championships at Weymouth Sailing Academy, Portland. A total of 17 Cherubs arrived from as far a field as Scotland. Two of which were experimental rigs, being allowed to sail in the championships as part of the ongoing development programme.
Sunday - Race One
Sunny and quite a decent looking breeze as we headed out. By the time we got out there it was a pleasant F4, and looked great. A somewhat delayed start went off with Shiny Beat inverted at the pin end, and it was some time before they followed the pack. Halo Jones led up much of the beat, pointing higher than the two string boats, but went the wrong side at the top and Norwegian Blue stormed up to take the lead with Aqua Marina and Fizzy amongst the close chasing bunch. The wind seemed to build some, and the two sail out to the spreader mark was dramatic to say the least, with several place changes. Then it was kite time, and the odd snaggle ensued with being a starboard rounding course and thus a port tack (wrong side) hoist. We all stormed downwind, and looked for the gate. It looked small. It looked very small! At Cherub angles it was a very small target indeed! Much swimming ensued as there was insufficient room to be able to pick your moment for the gybe, and Aqua Marina inherited the lead and headed off into the distance. Their race was, however, somewhat punctuated by swimming sessions, and the very last of them let through Shiny Beast, who had got their swimming over at the start and had steadily worked their way through the fleet. Shiny Was first, Aqua Marina second, and Strawberry third.
Monday - Race Two
Sunny again, but a lot less breeze from the SW than Sunday. The line went from quite port biased to very port biased at about 20 seconds to go before the gun. Strawberry, Halo and Norwegian were already lined up for the port-hand flyer, and this became more favourable. Norwegian had a very close squeak in front of Little Red Number. Shiny Beast tacked over onto port and slowly crept ahead. At the top mark Dangerous Strawberry was ahead of Dangerous Beans, Little Red Number and Halo Jones, Shiny Beast Having a weed problem. After the bear away buoy pretty much everyone gybed onto starboard on the way down to the gate. For the rest of the race the challenge was to keep the boats moving in the light fitful breeze, a task best undertaken by Little Red Number, then Shiny Beast followed by Halo Jones, Fizzy Shark and Aqua Marina.
Monday - Race Three.
Sunny, possibly a bit more wind. The wind hinted it might be all over the place and was...
Much action at the pin end with Halo on starboard causing all sorts of problems for Norwegian Blue and Strawberry on port... It was another wriggle your way up through the shifts beat, with Halo leading at the top from Shiny Beast and then the pack. The Paterson's took the lead downwind with superior boat speed off-wind in the light stuff. By the time we got to the bottom the wind had gone round 45 degrees or more, leaving the beat a fetch... LR N went low, and the wind helped them out by not changing back. Halo took the middle, with Norwegian Blue up to windward and Strawberry even further. At the top the wind came in from the left, leaving Halo totally blanketed and fuming as about 7 boats went past... the run was now a straight gybe free reach, as was the last beat, and the order stayed much the same.
Tuesday - Race Five
No better wind for this one, although there was at least plenty of hard fought tactical racing, with much place changing upwind and down. In a nightmare scenario for Cheese before Bedtime their OCS in the previous race was followed by being pushed over the line by Halo. Shiny Beast and Mango swapped places several times with the Beast taking the gun at the last. Just behind them LRN was reeled in rapidly on the last lap by a tight bunch of Halo, Aqua, Fuzzy Logic and Norwegian Blue, but they just managed to maintain their place, with the others finishing tight behind.
Also seen on the water but not ready to race due to frantic last minuet fitting out was Loco Perro, Ben and Daryl's new boat. This boat is a fairly radical look at the possible effects on the rule space of two trapezes, she looks a lot like a Woof 12-footer/R, but with rocker!
Evening entertainment followed with an inter fleet Skittles match at a charming local pub. The Cherubs pulled a victory out of the bag against the Moths, with there impressive Skittles B Team.
Tuesday - Race Four
A long wait to launch as the wind made up its mind about which side of the harbour it wanted to blow from. Some time later we launched and headed out in another hot, sunny but unfortunately not windy day. The sea breeze never came in either...
The first race started with a considerable scrum at the port end, which led to a second gun but no-one returning. Cheese before Bedtime were the unfortunates greeted with silence at the finish. The line was fairly square, and people from right across the line did well up the beat, notable amongst this was Kokopelli, a Forman 8 which must be 25 years old, scrapping right up with the Paterson's and Slugs. The race went to Shiny Beast, with LRN second, Aqua Marina third, and Mango jam, storming through the fleet after a very late start.
Wednesday - Race Seven
Somewhat lighter for race seven. Again hard fought between Mango and Shiny, and again the Beast got through at the death. Behind them LRN generally was able to keep clear of a tight battle behind, in which Halo took advantage of their light airs upwind speed to take 4th from Norwegian Blue, in a battle that also included Aqua Marina and Fizzy Shark in a different order on every lap.
Wednesday - Race Six
The weather looked bit better for this, with enough breeze to wire upwind and downwind - at least for the first half. An even start line gave no one any especial advantage, although Aqua Marina's adjustable rudder foils were clearly working well as they powered off the line. There was a very close bunch at the top mark, with I think Mango, Shiny, Aqua and Halo at close quarters, maybe someone else. With no obvious sides of the course favoured there was also much swapping of places downhill. Mango and Aqua fought for the lead for much of the race, but Shiny Beast almost inevitably slipped through at the end. Aqua Marina took 2nd, Mango 3rd, Fizzy 4th and LRN fifth.
Thursday
We sailed out in a pleasant breeze, then it stopped, then it swung a bit, then it stopped, then it swung some more, then Mr Newton hung up the abandon flag and it got a bit breezier again, then it swung 180 degrees! Good call then: you'd think he knows Weymouth bay well!
Friday - Race 8
Something of a delay, but when we got out there it was very pleasant - warm and windy enough to be trapezing most of the time upwind and just about all the time downhill. mango had elected to run with a dispensation kite for the day, and thus weren't scoring any Championship points.
A very even start and first beat, with LRN, Aqua and Halo at the first bunch at the windward mark. Following at a bit of a distance was Shiny Beast, who had had top sail back to re-rig the kite. Fizzy Shark took Halo on the next run, and a very tight and tactical race ensued between these two and Norwegian Blue, interrupted at the end by Shiny Beast, who slipped through to take fourth, with Fizzy third, Halo fifth and Norwegian Blue sixth.
Friday - Race 9
And so the last race started. While the top three were pretty much sorted, the next pack was very tight indeed, and on the water we figured that whoever won out of Fizzy, Halo and Norwegian Blue would take 4th place. That being the case the three of us flew round the course in a very intense tactical battle, with Aqua Marina also very much involved. With a slight but not extreme tendency to the left the beats were quite involved, and Halo tended to use their superior upwind speed to claw back what Fizzy and Norwegian were gaining downwind. The downwind tactical battle was considerably complicated by the Dutch Cadet suicide squad, who for some bizarre reason decided that the right place to do some preparation for their Championship next week was the middle of a race course with Cherubs and Moths flying round in directions and speeds that they've surely never seen before. In the end Fizzy flew down the last run to overtake Aqua Marina and grab third place, with Halo 5th and Norwegian Blue 6th.
Many thanks to all concerned at Weymouth Sailing Academy and the race team for all there hard efforts. Special thanks has to go to the Moths for there help and understanding due to our fixtures officer being incommunicado with the race team at Weymouth due to working 16 hour days for almost a week to finish his new boat and still not making it till half way through the event.
Overall Results:
1st Andy Paterson / Alex Paterson: Shiny Beast (Design: Paterson 7)
2nd Patrick Cunningham / Adrian Murphy : Little Red Number (Design: Paterson 7)
3rd Phil Alderson / Malcolm Garrington : Aqua Marina (Design: Paterson 7)
Handicap Results:
1st Alex Adams / Jim Champ: Halo Jones (Design: Italian Bistro)
2nd Will Lee / Lucy Lee: Norwegian Blue (Design: Italian Bistro)
3rd Tim Dean / Claire Spens: Fizzy Shark (Design: Pasta Frenzy)