Abersoch Keelboat Week 2013 at South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club
by Andy Teague 27 Aug 2013 14:06 BST
19-23 August 2013
Five fleets competed in this annual event hosted by South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club on 19th-23rd August in Abersoch, North Wales including the IRC North West Regional Championships. This year the event was sponsored by SLAM Clothing, JKA Sails, Partington Marine, Hafan Pwllheli, Motorola, Spar, Green Sea Photography, Abersoch Boatyard and Boatshed.com.
For the first two days the sun shone with a steady 20 knots of breeze which resulted in great sailing for all. On wednesday the weather was a complete contrast with poor visibility and high winds and after an hours postponement racing was cancelled for the day. Thursday and Friday the wind was lighter which made for some tricky but interesting sailing.
Overall in IRC1 "Impetuous" a Corby 37 sailed by Richard Fildes and his slick crew from SCYC was followed home by John Collins from Pwllheli Sailing Club in his J109 "Jetstream" and Commodore of SCYC Peter Hawkins in his X43 "Mr Maestro"
In IRC2 "Injenious" a J97 sailed by Hallworth and Crompton had an impressive set of results discarding a 1st and 2nd to place them as clear winners. Paddy Atkinson in his newly acquired Projection 920 "Molissa" came second ahead of Will Partington's Corby 25 "Wil2win" by only 2 points.
Five Sigma 33s yet again demonstrated the advantage of one design fleet racing. A quick scan across the bay always picked up the Sigmas locked in close combat. Matthew Wild's "Sable" won by one point ahead of "Marauder" sailed by Milner and Saunders who were closely followed by the Cope/Lee/Price "Fandango". Archatron and Sloe Gin both on 23 points demonstrated how close the racing was in this fleet. The Sigma 33 Nationals will be here in Abersoch in 2014 which is going to be an event not to be missed.
The new NHC handicap system was used to its full advantage in the Gents and Cruiser class and proved to be a great success with all competitors. In the Gents Class the first race of the week was an offshore race in light winds and strong tides with some competitors returning home later than expected after a long sail, the last two boats "Nyasa" a Oceanis 31, sailed by Rob Shelly, and "Blue Moves", a Oceanis 34 sailed by Janet and Andy Baker, had an exciting sail from the Islands to the finish with "Nyasa" just getting the gun a fraction of a second ahead of "Blue Moves" In the overall series "Skybird" a Maxi 1100 sailed by David Jackson was the overall winner with Stuart Morris in his Bavaria 36 "Sanderling" chasing hard for second place. Third, fourth and fifth place all on 12 points were separated by a discard with Tim Pilcher, a new competitor from Holyhead SC, in his Sigma 38 "Esprit"
In the Cruisers Wim Batist in his First 30 "Perseverance" and Christine Willis, from Newquay and Aberaeron SC, in her Westerly Fulmar "Rodmar" were both on 6 points and separated only by count-back, had a close weeks racing with Wim in "Perseverance" the overall winner. They were followed by Roy and Tilly Dearden in "Aunt Jessie" a First 325.
All the fleets experienced close racing and apart from the bad weather on Wednesday the event was a huge success. Off the water the evenings were well supported with themed food evenings in the Cove Restaurant, Quiz night and live music in the bar, plus the eventful daily prize-giving with "in it to win it" prize draws and a final night to remember! On behalf of all the competitors' thanks go to Paul Proctor the Event Manager and the Keelboat Week Committee for a fantastic Regatta.
For full results and details of the event please go to www.abersochkeelboatweek.org. More photographs of the event are available at www.greenseaphotography.co.uk