Hurricane 5.9 SX Nationals at Stone Sailing Club
by Kami Marshall 6 Jun 2009 08:06 BST
28-31 May 2009
This year's event was going to be one of the most competitive for some time with the ’08 champions Neil Connelly and Buster Tickner defending their title on their home patch against former National Champion John Ready crewed by Alan Morgan and Irish Multihull Champion Adrian Allen crewed by Dave Anderson who made the long journey over from Northern Ireland. The entry of twenty boats was boosted by support from travellers as far afield as Helensburgh in Scotland, Starcross and Cawsands in the South West and South Shields from the North East.
This event was to be the first outing of the newly adopted one design squaretop mainsail for the class with eleven of the entry sporting their new sail, in most cases without even seeing it up the mast! The schedule was for ten races held over the four day period with windward/leeward courses of approximately 50 minutes duration for the leading boat.
Race Officer Neil Fulcher and his team were confronted with some difficult conditions on day one of the event with a light and variable breeze blowing across the river blackwater from a predominantly northerly direction. Race one got away cleanly, Team Charlesworth, Adam and Paul (Stokes Bay SC) found some speed with their new sail and were looking good with team Connelly at the top mark, regrettably the breeze began to die and swing and no sooner had the spinnakers gone up the R/O stopped the race.
A new breeze began to move down the river from a slightly different direction, the race management team seized the opportunity to quickly relay the course and get the race under way. Mark Thompson and Jack Tindale (Stone SC) took the weather mark closely pursued by team Allen and Doug Smith crewed by Bill King (Starcross YC). Team Connelly were second from last at the weather mark, however, by the leeward gate they had pulled back to second from the front having taken the right side of the course and picking up a small band of breeze which rapidly carried them across the tide on an extremely favourable heading.
Back up wind Team Allen who had overhauled Thompson and Smith pulled away from the fleet and established a comfortable lead which allowed them to play a loose covering middle of the road strategy in the failing cyclonic breeze which was causing chaos at the leeward gate. The R/O shortened the race to three laps and the place for the top four was played out pretty much within the last 200 metres of the final downwind leg, Connelly dipped out with a 5th, Thompson came back for a second followed by Team Hanmore, Richie and Chris (Stone SC) and Trevor Bawden crewed by Tom Wass (Stone SC). Much discussion ensued as to why the re sail of race one was not also canned, but with only four days to get a championship in the pressure was on the get some results on the board.
Day two dawned bright and sunny with a light easterly, the forecast was looking good for some classic east coast yachting at its best and the weather Doctor delivered! Racing got under way with a weakening ebb tide against the building breeze, it took a couple of laps for the fleet to settle on which side of the river paid, most of the locals heading up the south shore upwind and taking a middle of the river line downwind. This became the order of the day for the next few races as the flood tide began to build. Team Bawden sailed through the fleet to take the gun from team Allen, team Thompson and Connelly had a near miss at the final leeward gate forcing Connelly to overstand the finish line, just as he crossed tight reaching with kite up he was hit by a large gust with nowhere to go as his bear away option was blocked by the end of the line, a loud clang of metal was heard as is mast clipped the committee boat shroud, fortunately he did no damage and chose to retire.
For race three there was a course alteration to take into account a slight move to the right of the wind direction, with the breeze up to 15 knots and a flooding tide in a similar direction conditions were pretty flat some really for some fast “blue chip” sailing. The fleet got away cleanly and this time the majority hit the southern shore of the river to avoid to strengthening flood tide. It wasn’t possible to hit the starboard lay line due to a lack of water, this resulted in a considerable amount of short tacking and plenty of close action port starboard crossings. After plenty of nip and tuck windward work and some great downtide spinnaker blasting team Connelly posted their first victory of the week pursued by Thompson, Hanmore and 4th going to Allen.
Race four got underway back to back again, similar conditions, a good square line with some eager starting practices at the committee boat end by those wanting to tack off early to the south side of the river. The breeze was beginning to build into the late teens, the cross tacking up the shoreline was getting even more exciting, those that dug in real deep risked grounding, getting stuck in a weaker band of breeze, or picking up a fantastic lift inside the opposition. Occasionally it paid to stay on the edge of the tide line and take the steadier breeze. Downwind was electric, lots of options for overtaking by finding some deeper but choppier fast moving water in the middle of the river or going for some flatter water and steadier breeze on the North Side. Good mark rounding with perfectly executed tacks and gybes were essential, it was clear that the square top sails were beginning to show their ease of handling and speed potential. But after plenty of nip and tuck it was team Connelly who shone through again from team Allen, and Hanmore in third after some very exciting racing.
Race five saw yet more breeze up in the 20 + knot region and a slight change in the pecking order. John Ready and Alan Morgan (Stone SC) who had been consistently playing the left side of the course for the better breeze and less traffic finally switched tactics taking the south shore with clear air, taking the windward mark first and winning the race by the biggest distance margin of the event. Back in the pack it was once again a fight to keep the speed up, clear air and neat transitions. Kami Marshall and Helen Scott (South Shields) found their top gear and showed the blokes how to do it in a decent breeze for second, Third slot went to Kevin Bawden and Ben Cox (Stone).
After two days of racing it was team Allen who were overnight leaders, ever consistent Team Thompson in second and team Connelly third. Points were close and it was all to play for, championship game on!
Day three once again dawned bright and breezy from the east with all competitors out on the water in good time and ready and raring to go in the steady 15 knot breeze. An ebb tide against the breeze caught a few people out on the startline with three competitors scoring an OCS, also a luffing incident between Ready and Allen during the pre start period showed how the tension was mounting at the upper end of the leader board. The ebb tide allowed some more freedom on which side of the course to pick up wind, many favouring left or the north shore for cleaner and steadier breeze. Ready got away again showing the speed potential of the new main to full effect leaving Allen and Connelly to slog it out once they had broken clear of the pack. Connelly taking second.
Race seven got away cleanly, Connelly was being attacked on all sides by squaretops, this race saw one of the tightest battles for the top with numerous place changes and nose to tail mark roundings. Ready and Allen had kept clear from the ensuing pack and kept Connelly in check, it was Team T Bawden who showed the best speed of the day sailing from the middle order and looking good for first on the last lap, however Connelly played a tight covering game to take the line from Bawden, Ready third and Allen fourth.
Race eight with a similar fresh breeze and a switching tide direction. Ready was clean off the startline and took the windward mark and disappeared into the distance again, a second win today would seriously open up the leader board overnight for the final days racing, or would it? Allen, Connelly and T Bawden once again thrashed it out, by the end of lap two the breeze was hitting 28 knots, with physically tired crews it paid to be cautious, the boats speeds were now exceptionally fast. Ready had been nursing his way round with a failing tapered mainsheet system, at the leeward gate with one lap to go he was unable to sheet out effectively in the big breeze, on rounding up he promptly stuck it in! This opened the door for Allen who took the line from Connelly, T Bawden in third.
The atmosphere was buzzing ashore after some of the most exhilarating racing to be had, but for Ready it got worse, a protest hearing found him at fault resulting in a DSQ, coupled with the capsize and thereby counting a 13th it was bye bye to regaining a Hurricane championship title.
Day four saw Connelly in the lead overall with a two point advantage over Allen. It was all to play for with bright sunshine and a slightly variable Easterly breeze at around 8-12 knots. For Race 9 Connelly chose to keep away from Allen in the pre-start period and take the pin end of the line. At the top mark he rounded in 5th with Allen in 6th. This was looking good for some challenging racing. Downwind Connelly hooked into some steady breeze deep up the south shore and out of the ebb tide pulling himself into second place and out of danger as Allen struggled to find the same wind strength and began to flounder into the middle order. Connelly delivered under pressure by taking the lead and winning from Thompson and T Bawden in 3rd.
The 10th and final race saw Connelly play it safe again, Allen could still come back at him as the second discard had kicked in on the previous day. Connelly didn’t have it all his own way however as Greg Reed and Mark Kingsley (Datchet Water) and team Charlesworth were fighting it out for first and second place. After a second course adjustment due to a persistent shift Allen found himself on the wrong side of the track and again slipped back into the middle order. Connelly went into overdrive downwind and managed to overhaul everyone in his path to snatch first place and retain his National Championship title in style with T Bawden chasing his shirt tails to take 2nd, Charlesworths 3rd and Reed 4th.
A classic Championship with many twists and turns, fantastic weather, a superb social scene, good food and great prizes supplied by the class sponsors who were Towergate Mardon, Mount Blanc, AW Sailboats, Hyde Sails and Mailspeed Marine. Well done Stone Sailing Club.
Overall Results:
1st Neil Connelly & Buster Tickner (Stone SC)
2nd Adrian Allen & Dave Anderson (Ballyholme YC)
3rd Mark Thompson & Jack Tindale (Stone SC)
4th Trevor Bawden & Tom Wass (Stone SC)
5th Richie Hanmore & Chris Hanmore (Stone SC)
6th Kami Marshall & Helen Scott (South Shields SC)
7th Kevin Bawden & Ben Cox (Stone SC)
8th Nick Dorks & Dave Elias (Stone SC)
9th Geoff Tindale & Clint Foreman (Stone SC)
10th Paul Palmer & Robert Palmer (Thorpe Bay YC)
Click here for full results.