Crouch Yacht Club Autumn Series - Race 6
by Phillip Harbott 10 Nov 2014 07:49 GMT
9 November 2014
Racing started later today from the Crouch Yacht Club, as the entire fleet moored off Burnham War Memorial in order to observe the silence with the rest of the town. The day also saw the inaugural presentation of the Peter Cashel Memorial Trophy for the overall winner on the day out of all three classes.
The Hunter 707s were very close to the line on the South Shore heading up river to Cliff with the strong spring tide in very light South Westerly winds. Marlin were not first to cross the line at the start, but sailed under the rest of the fleet to lead on the leg up river. When the fleet came down towards the Crouch Yacht Club to round number 9 with Marlin leading, the course was shortened. Marlin owned by Matt Rainbow and Baby Beluga owned by John Lewis luffed across the river to the South Shore. Paul Gray's Beaver Hunter stayed on the North Shore, and this enabled Paul to sail through the other two 707s to take first place with Marlin second and Baby Beluga third.
Class One were very line shy, with Duncan and Beccy Haley's SJ320 Double Trouble crossing the line first over twenty seconds after the gin. Inn Spirit, the series leader took over 50 seconds to cross the start line after the gun. However, the highest rated boat, Inn Spirit, owned by Alan Bartlett and helmed by Ian Hart soon led the IRC class, with Double Trouble in second on the water and Martin and Kirsty Brooks' Dehler, Sapphire, fighting hard with Duncan throughout the race. Stampede, the Mustang 30 owned by Digger Harder and Eclipse, the Maxi 1000 owned by Clive Cherry and Daryl Mylroie followed, with Tumblehome II also in the second pack. After rounding Cliff, the fleet hoisted spinnakers. Inn Spirit hoisted their spinnaker quickly having rounded the mark first; however, on dropping the headsail, they saw that their kite was sideways, a quick drop and re-hoist was necessary.
Sapphire and Double Trouble fought hard all the way down river to the finish, both crossing to the South Shore not having heard the shorten course signal, and the slightly lower rated SJ320 stayed ahead to take second place on the water. On the way down to the finish, Eclipse sailed through the smaller Mustang to take fourth on the water with Stampede fifth and Tumblehome II helmed by Bob Tubbs and owned by Charlie Ball, Bryn Fisher and Julian Fitgerald in sixth.
On corrected time, Double Trouble won, with Sapphire 43 seconds behind in second. Inn Spirit were third 9 seconds off Sapphire.
In Class Three Rode Grutt were OCS and flying their spinnaker trying desperately to get the correct side of the line. They were only half a boat length over on the gun, and cleared the line and turned still with their kite up, meaning that they also crossed the line first in the correct direction. Andy Heel in Bella Vela also had a fantastic start, the rest of the class behind. Mantra owned by Phillip Harbott and Grace and Danger, the SJ27 owned by Andrew Courts, Roger Noble and Stephen Gosling, helmed this week by Roger the last two to start. As the fleet got going, tacking up river with the tide in very fickle winds, Harvest Moon and Aragorn got to the front of the fleet. Paul Drew's Harvest Moon rounded first, with Trevor Holding in Aragorn second, Rode Grutt rounded third, and a speedy hoist on the small Dehler belonging to Mark Lyons meant Aragorn were back in third place for a while. The boats that hugged the North Shore shallows struggled to climb out at Creeksea with their kites, but did manage to keep their kites up. Aragorn were leading on the water by now, and Harvest Moon were second, with Rude Grutt third. Mantra, the Aphrodite 101 managed to get through the SJ27 Grace and Danger to take fourth on the water, but were insufficiently ahead to save their time. Zora, the Contessa 32 owned by Rupert Brown got through Bella Vela on the run down from the marina entrance. On corrected time, Rode Grutt owned by Mark Lyons won, with Harvest Moon second, and Aragorn were third.
At prize giving in the Crouch Yacht Club, Brenda Cashel made a moving speech, recounting her late husband's bravery on the beaches on D-Day before presenting the trophy. The winner of the Peter Cashel Memorial Trophy was Duncan and Beccy Haley in Double Trouble, with Sapphire owned by Martin and Kirsty Brooks second, and Inn Spirit owned by Alan Bartlett third.