Cherub Nationals at Largo Bay Sailing Club - Overall
by Phil Alderson 30 Aug 2010 09:04 BST
25-28 August 2010
The UK National Cherub Championships were held at Largo Bay Sailing Club between August 25th and 28th with some 20 boats making the long trip north with many coming from south of London.
The first day saw a very light south westerly breeze moving around and making Race Officer Gordon McGeorge's job very difficult but the first race of the championship was an easy ride for Lewns and Pyall from Whitstable keeping ahead of Andy and Jill Peters (Queen Mary). The conditions were even lighter for the second race with a chaotic start allowing the Peters to run through the whole race ahead of Lewns and Pyall. The evening saw a reception in the Crusoe Hotel where the Provost of Fife, Frances Melville, welcomed the sailors to Fife.
Day two provided excellent sailing with more wind, some breakages and rescues and Lewns and Pygall taking firsts in each of the three races to make themselves the ones to beat in the series. After a bad first day Croute and Unerman (Chew Valley) showed their true colours by sailing their boat 'Atum Bom', a previous double champion boat, into a third and two second places to push the Peters, who had a bad end to the day, into third overall.
Friday 27th was day three with very gentle conditions to start, although it had looked more promising in the early morning, but this didn't stop Lewns and Pygall recording their fifth victory of the series. Croute and Unerman sailed well again but were pipped into third by father and son team G and E Bridle (Brightlingsea).
The second race looked more promising as a decent breeze kicked up a sharp sea and caused a general recall. Lewns and Pygall had a bad start and were only sixth at the windward mark but pushed to the front after a couple of laps, ahead of 'Atum Bom'. They were on the brink of a sixth victory when they capsized at the leeward mark allowing Croute and Unerman to record their first victory with the Peters second and the Bridles third. By this stage the exciting wind had vanished and the Race Officer canned the last race postponing it until the next day.
The final day was grey with a few good 15 knots gusts going through which was bound to liven things up and cause a few Cherub sailors to fall in the water. Crout and Unerman recorded their second victory in the Championship in the postponed race 8 pushing an off-the- pace Lewns and Pygall into sixth with the Peters getting second and D Ching and N Pratt ((Poole YC) taking third but normal service was resumed in the penultimate race when Lewns and Pygall took the victory that made them UK Cherub Champions 2010; Croute and Unerman were second but the Peters were left in fifth after a collision with Ching and Pratt who brought their bright green boat 'Shiney Beast' into fourth.
Job done, Lewns and Pygall retired to the club house for the final race to avoid any risk of damage in the freshening conditions but the rest of the fleet went from capsize to capsize until Croute and Unerman were flagged through as winners of race ten and runners-up in the Championship.
Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the Cherub nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here
1st C Lewns & T Pygall (Whitstable YC) 12pts
2nd P Croute & T Unerman (Chew Valley) 15pts
3rd A Peters & J Peters (Queen Mary) 21pts
4th G Bridle & E Bridle (Brightlingsea SC) 27pts
5th D Ching & N Pratt (Poole YC) 32pts
6th J Hamilton & D Still (Draycote Water SC) 45pts
7th P Alderson & C Alderson (Largs SC) [also first 1997 rules boat] 67pts
8th A Cramp & T Noyce (Roadford Lake) 67pts