Vattenfall Ramsgate Week - Day 2

The second day of Vattenfall Ramsgate Week was sponsored by Jentex and attracted a competitive fleet of local and visiting boats.

The two IRC fleets sailed a short course. The race started in light north easterly winds, which became variable throughout the race until a southerly breeze filled in to bring the fleet home in glorious sunshine. The variable conditions and strong tides led to interesting racing and many boats had a share of the lead during the course of the race.

IRC Class 1

Peter Jackson’s Icom Assassin had a good start in the Class 1 fleet. Kokokai launched their spinnaker out on the first leg and the rest of the fleet followed suit, but Mike Brand’s Xwaves managed to get ahead and was first to the windward mark. The next leg started on a spinnaker run, with Icom Assassin and Tim Grigsby’s X-Treme 25, X-Tatic carrying their asymmetrics. Xwaves sailed into a hole, with Icom Assassin overtaking and beating them to the next mark to lead the fleet home. The rest of the fleet suffered no wind and the placings remained the same for the remainder of the afternoon. X-Tatic caught Kokokai when the wind filled in at the end of the race, but didn’t manage to catch up. Icom Assassin took line honours with Xwaves second and Kokokai third.

IRC Class 2

In Class 2, the Impala 28 Scallywag II was first to the weather mark, closely followed by Antix. Xpedite, Volante and Reaction reaching the mark at the same time. The next leg belonged to Antix and Expedite, both sailing well to Mark X. Volante, being the weather boat, skilfully managed to pick up the first of the south easterly breeze. Xpedite took line honours. It was a pleasure to see Phillipe Bourgeois ‘s Marine Diffusion Dunqurkue on the water, who had sailed from France the previous night and despite some slick sail handling, were unfortunate with the unpredictable wind early in the race. It was the Impala’s that stole the day, with Volante (Paul Glover and Malcolm Flory) coming first on handicap, and Scallywag II and Reaction taking second and third place respectively.

Cruiser Class 5 & 6

The weather forecast today gave the race officer a difficult task; the wind was forecast to begin northerly, diminish and then swing round to the south. Knowing this, the race officer for the Cruiser fleet set a course down to B2, then to Rally Design and back via B2 with a loop to finish. His intention being to get round B2 before the tide and wind changed. This however was not to be, and the fleet arrived at B2 with only a few boats – Sydney II, Surprise and Magnum - managing to creep onto the bank before the tide changed. The fleet was stationary for two hours, but eventually the wind set in from the south and all boats got out of the tidal stream, either along the coast or the bank. By now Sydney II, Surprise and Toucan had rounded Rally Design and were heading home. The fleet then enjoyed some good racing for the remainder of the afternoon.

In Cruiser Class 5, Lance Stevens’ Grand Soleil 50, Sydney II, took line honours, but was beaten on handicap by Surprise (Frank Martin), who took first place, with Arthur Freeman’s J92, Jazz taking second place and Mick Ward’s First 31.7, Toucan taking third.

S Jones’ First Class 10, Mirage, took line honours in Cruiser Class 6, winning the race with Rush (Kenneth Lees) second and Mallard (Howard Bates) third.

More information at www.ramsgateweek.com