J24 Fowey Trophy at Fowey Gallants Sailing Club

Racing in the J24 Fowey Trophy © Simon Heap

Despite a particularly ominous forecast of force 6-8 and rain, twelve J24s gathered for the Spring J24 Fowey Trophy regatta hosted by the Fowey Gallants Sailing Club.

The race team headed by Ron Medlyn opted to hold racing in the flat water of the harbour on Saturday, as opposed to the easterly swell in St Austell Bay.

Four races were completed and the gusting winds and short legs, multiple-lap races took their toll on the crews by the end of Day 1. Stuart Jardine and his team on board the evergreen ‘Stouche’ held the lead at the end of the first day from Paul Toms and the ‘home team’ aboard ‘Joya’ and ‘Roger Rabbit’ (Gary Denning/Nick Hirst) in 3rd. It was a credit to the race team that they managed to get four races sailed in such challenging weather conditions.

Much to everyone’s surprise and relief, blue sky, sunshine and about 8-10 knots of breeze greeted the crews on Sunday morning and 2 races were held outside the harbour entrance before the wind started to fade at lunchtime.

Duncan McCarthy’s ‘Madeleine’ pulled off a blinding pin-end start in the first race of the day and was never headed to take the gun after 3 laps, bringing her back into contention for a podium finish.

Race 6 saw another general recall in the flood tide, but second time away ‘Joya’ was the first boat to tack onto port at the committee boat end of the line and opened up a good lead on the first beat as a result. Madeleine tried to close the gap but the local boat kept loose cover to take her second win of the regatta, and the series by one point from ‘Stouche’.

‘Phoenix’ won the three-way battle for 3rd overall ahead of ‘Madeleine’ and ‘Roger Rabbit’. Andy Gent’s ‘Shere Khan’ collected the prize for top Westerly-built J24.

After the last race prizes were awarded from sponsors St.Austell Brewery, Hyde Sails, Fowey Maritime Centre and Savills.

The class now moves onto two more regattas at Falmouth and Poole before the J24 World Championships in Sardinia at the beginning of June.

Overall Results: