Cowes Dinghy Week at Gurnard Sailing Club
by Mike Martin 8 Aug 2015 08:35 BST
1-5 August 2015
Many a class in the Medium group at Cowes Dinghy Week © Liz Harrison
Gurnard Sailing Club welcomed some 100 boats to the annual Cowes Dinghy Week from 1-5 August, with entries split between 7 classes.
After a blessing given by local Reverend Amanda Collinson, entrants took to the water on Saturday afternoon in perfect wind and sun.
An extra all-in race on Sunday morning for the Crossprint Hamper was won narrowly by Haydn Sewell and Ollie Evans' Pico.
Tuesday's race was lost to heavy winds, meaning that Race Officer Barrie Harding put on the final two races on Wednesday.
At the end of the first three days of racing, clear leaders had emerged in some of the fleets, with Adam Coventry in the Lasers and Ben Willows in the Fast group having each won all four of their races. However, with Luke Margham and Charlie Owen picking up first places in races 5 and 6 respectively, Coventry's chance of picking up the trophy for overall winner was threatened.
Willows' run of bullets was ended by Tim Harrison's B14 in race 5 and Keith Hayden in race 6, though not preventing him from winning the Fast group comfortably.
The RS Aero handicap class was close, with line honours being shared by David Rickard, Jo Richards and visitor Andrew Snell, who had a fine final day scoring two bullets. However, Rickard still claimed top spot.
In the RS100 class, Brett Aarons was uncatchable with a perfect six, leaving Mark Harrison and Giles Peckham to fight it out for the minor placings.
The diversity of boats in the Medium group made for interesting racing. Conditions favoured the asymmetrics with all the wins going to either RS400s or RS500s and the pairing of Luke Bradley/Alex Lambie sailed consistently to take the class, with Derek Ness and Ben Symons sailing well to make second.
It was the 33-strong Slow group that started the final day with all to play for, with the Picos of Oliver Evans, Amanda Harding and Kate Gibbs in with a shout. They finished in that order, although a late sprint from Tiger and Finbar Tellwright's RS Feva in race 5 lifted them to 5th overall and into the prizes. Tx Finney finished first of the Laser 4.7s.
The Shadow cats mustered a class of 16 and looked impressive both on the water and occasionally upside down during 6 hard-fought races. Robin Leather, Carl Blenkinsop, Paul Bowen and Paul Tanner all scored wins, but in the end it was the consistency of Leather that won the day.
Trophies and prizes, kindly donated by Henri Lloyd, were presented to the winners by five times Paralympic world champion, Alexandra Rickham.
Cowes Dinghy Week Results:
Shadow
1 Robin Leather
2 Paul Bowen
3 Carl Blenkinsop
4 Shaun Kellett
Fast H'Cap
1 Ben Willows
2 Chris Symons/Chris Hughes
3 Keith Hayden
RS100
1 Brett Aarons
2 Mark Harrison
3 Giles Peckham
RS Aero
1 David Rickard
2 Jo Richards
3 Andrew Snell (Army SA)
Medium H'Cap
1 Luke Bradley/Alex Lambie
Laser H'Cap
1 Adam Coventry
2 Luke Margham
3 Bryan Sargeant (BWSC)
Slow H'Cap
1 Oliver Evans/Haydn Sewell
2 Amanda Harding
3 Kate & Thomas Gibbs
Yachts & Yachting trophy for best total score: Brett Aarons
Endeavour Trophy: Charlotte Conder & Iona Chorley
Ladies Prize: Amanda Harding
John Davis Memorial Trophy: Luke Margham
Shadow Cat Pro-am Trophy: Team Bowen (Pete & Paul)