Etchells Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy at the Royal Yacht Squadron

David Franks and the crew of Elvis with the Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy © Rob Goddard

Difficult conditions greeted the Etchells fleet sailing off Hillhead in the Solent on Saturday for the scheduled 3 race day. 6 to 10 knot Southerly breezes that had blown over the Isle of Wight before reaching the race track meant puffy and disturbed conditions for the 13 teams that had entered this Annual event, as while on one side of the course you would have a 6 knot breeze, boats 100 metres away had 10 knots, and while upwind the tacticians with a good eye for the breeze took full advantage, downwind it meant gybing and sailing almost backwards to the better breezes, by which time it's faded, so holding one's nerve and pushing the boat towards the bottom mark was almost the only choice, as occasional back markers would take advantage of these conditions and sail around the fleet.

For Race 1 in these difficult conditions Robert Elliott sailing Time and Tide, GBR 1416 his brand new David Heritage built Etchells finished first in the boats very first race. It's Roberts 3rd Etchells and he said after racing that he is absolutely delighted with it, Phil Laurence (Porky) and Andrew (Dog) Palfrey sailing with Robert found the new Deck layout modifications made the boat easier to sail, and with the new jib sheet cleating position Dog was able to hike to new extremes one handed off the start line when the breeze was "up" in later races.

During race 2 the southerly winds which hadn't seen the SW Wind Guru forecast instead turned left giving another shuffle of the pack, and there was one boat Peter Rogers Highlife who on Saturday was always close to the lead upwind, and the boats that delayed their Gybe after the top mark then found that the shift with extra pressure compressed the pack by the bottom mark where the leeward gate became a starboard only rounding and the beat to the finish became a reach, and the other boat which is always close to the front upwind Richard Burrows "Matatu Dubh" won the race with the first of his weekend's pair of bullets.

Race 3 had a right hand wind shift at the start which almost dragged the fleet over the line early causing a general recall, and the restart was run under every competitor's fear, the black flag, and as you cannot be shy to win races the fleet did not hang back, and with a favorable pin end Shaun Frohlich's Exabyte attended the almost impossible dive into the pin with a few seconds to go but caught the buoy pre-start and while hanging there watched the fleet start, only for 3 boats to be called OCS and black flagged, after which they did their turn before following the remaining fleet around from a distance, taking the 10 points which later they would be grateful for, as in race 6, an on the water incident lead to their retirement and a discardable 14 points, and meanwhile for this race, David Franks sailing Elvis started alongside the black flagged contingent who quickly peeled off giving Elvis the favored leeward position on the rest of the fleet from where he won the race. Leaving Highlife in first overall on Saturday night followed by Matatu Dubh, then new co-owner Thomas Brennan sailing Ray of Light and Elvis tied on 17 points in third.

Sunday again saw southerly breezes but this day ranging from 10-15 knots with 25deg wind shifts lasting 4-5 minutes on the left giving almost text book sailing in when to tack, while on the right Matatu Dubh sailed fast to win the race which was started under the infamous black flag following another general recall.

Then we had race 5 which started under black flag, a race which had more drama for the day, Highlife leading while approaching the leeward mark decided a late pre mark gybe was in order. Unfortunately in the rush Tim Springett on the bow of Highlife lost his footing in the sloppy seas and went for a swim. this gave 4th place David Franks' Elvis crew, Amy Prime, Graham Sunderland, and Bleddyn Mon their opportunity to practice their MOB drill, and the crew executed a text book turn heading into the wind still with kite up to rescue the wet Highlife Bowman, while Shaun Frohlich who had lead the race previously to take back first position and win race 5.

So it was all to play for in race 6, 4 boats could win the regatta, Highlife, Elvis, Matatu Dubh or Time and Tide. Again the dreaded black flag was used to start the race, and Highlife keen to make up for the previous races DNF were unfortunately OCS and sent back to port for their second early bath of the day, while David Franks' Elvis won the pin and lead throughout the race to take the race win and also win the Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy from Matatu Dubh second, and Time and Tide third.

Important news regarding Cowes Etchells Racing results. At the SKP event dinner held on the RYS platform on Saturday night it was announced that all future Cowes Etchells events would also score ISAF Cat 1 crew results winner (crew which are all amateur status) as well as overall winner for each event, plus all results, from all events will be accumulated to show the season-long leader boards to find our two "Etchells Overall and CAT1 Cowes Season Champions" for 2014 and subsequent years.

Reminder next major Etchells only Event, is being held over the 7/8 June and hosted by the RTYC, with dinner at the RLYC on the Saturday evening, NOR will be published and distributed soon.