Cherub class at the Thornbury Sailing Club Regatta
by Will Lee 31 Jul 2008 07:26 BST
26-27 July 2008
The Cherubs enjoy the conditions during the Thornbury SC Regatta © Bill Garland
Despite the light wind forecast, five Cherubs made the journey to Oldbury on Severn for Thornbury S.C.’s annual regatta. Regarded by some as the best kept secret on the Severn, the sailing club also proved difficult for some to find. After a few detours, the teams arrived but noticed that the water hadn’t: With the river Severn’s huge tidal range you can only go sailing when the water’s there and it still had three meters to rise.
Saturday’s races were sailed in force 3 and were dominated by Will and
Lucy Lee in their new and very orange boat, The Antidote To Panel Games.
They were followed by Tim Unerman and Sarah Gregson in Pocket Rocket who
were already overpowered. Their developing teamwork was puncuated by a
swim where Sarah gouged a chunk out of Tim’s hand with her trapeze hook:
Tim was left with a bruised hand of which he reminded everyone for the
rest of the day. Mat Harris and crew Ben were enjoying the champagne
sailing conditions and the opportunity try out their new sails and other
updates to Sweet Dreams.
In race two there was a close start but it was Sweet Dreams who beat
Pocket Rocket to the windward mark. Sweet Dreams thought they had made a
close but tidy rounding at the top but soon realised they were being
chased by the mark. Eventually it pinged free from them and sprung back
into the path of an unsuspecting catamaran. This gave Pocket Rocket the
opportunity to catch and overtake Dreams and hold second place until the
finish. Antidote were going so well that they were almost lapping pocket
Rocket but took a dip when blanketed by a surpirise F18 cat.
After a wonderful evening meal laid on by the club, the cherubists got
to know some of the locals who were so interested in the boats.
Two hours before the start in the morning there was not a breath of wind
but as the water arrived a gentle sea breeze did too and the fleet
launched. The start of the first race was busy and Slippery When Wet
just about snuck across at the starboard end pushing Antidote out in the
process. Antidote soon recovered (post 720) and caught up quickly,
pointing high and sailing fast. Pocket Rocket with her big sails and
light crew flew downwind and were not caught by Antidote until the
second lap. Cheese Beofre Bedtime with Paul Croote and Francis Screech
aboard was shadowing the leaders but didn’t anticipate the strength of
the tide and had to beat back to the wing mark. Slippery was having a
close race with Dreams but they made a similar mistake to Cheese on the
second lap and never caught back up with Dreams before the finish.
The Fast handicap fleet’s second race was started before the slower
boats had finished their first race, catching all but two cherubs out.
Pocket Rocket stormed up the beat and held a close lead from Cheese
Before Bedtime for the first lap. Antidote, Slippery and Dreams started
behind the others but took ages to close the gap.
Antidote took the lead on lap two and Cheese lost time at the windward
mark when catching the buoy on their T-foil. They had to capsize to free
themselves loosing valuable time. Slippery found some competition with
an RS500. The 97 rules rig gave greater off wind speed but this only
just compensated for the greater distance sailed. Greater gains were
made by sailing in the right direction for the tide than the differences
in the boat’s design. Matt and Ben in Dreams were never far behind and
were enjoying the down wind legs with their big kite.
Will and Lucy picked up trophies on both days for their performances in
the fast handicap fleet and everyone enjoyed the friendly club, close
racing and the fabulous weather. We certainly plan to be returning next
year and I hope you will join us: A perfect weekend!
Overall Results:
1st 2699 Antidote To Panel Games, Will Lee & Lucy Lee, 1 1 1 1
2nd 2683 Pocket Rocket, Tim Unerman & Sarah Gregson, 2 2 2 2
3rd 2663 Sweet Dreams, Matt Harris & Ben Jacobs, 3 3 4 5
4th 2645 Cheese Before Bedtime, Paul Croote & Francis Screech, 6 6 3 3
5th 2657 Slippery When Wet, Phil Kirk & Tom Sully, 6 6 5 4