Royal Corithian One Design Whitsun Regatta
by John Waples 30 May 2017 21:12 BST
27-28 May 2017
What a Whitsun weekend for the RCOD Class that was... we welcomed two new boat owners to the fleet, had six boats on the start line and enjoyed some of the closest racing we have seen for a long time, with positions changing constantly.
After a quick re-fit, Corsair, now under the co-ownership of Stuart Munro, Andy Barr, Fi Bell and David Schapiro, made her start line debut and, bar a few tangled bits of string, showed that the team will be a force to be reckoned with.
The other new boy was John Reid, who has taken ownership of the late Bobby Melville's vessel, Corinna. Charles Melville kindly offered to crew for the weekend and John, who has returned to Burnham after several decades living in the West country, showed that he has lost none of his guile around the river.
We now have eight RCODs on the moorings with two more expected to arrive in the coming weeks and this bodes well for a very competitive season.
As for the weekend racing, Saturday was at the very top end for the class and fully reefed they went into battle. Justin Waples in Cormorant zipped into a useful lead which he kept for the duration of the race. But the rest of the fleet was not far behind with Peter Willoughby clearly enjoying the blustery conditions. It was also particularly enjoyable seeing Stuart reacquaint himself with the ever present RCOD pump, an experience he has not enjoyed for several years. Lighter weather followed on Sunday and Monday but that only added to the fun. Three boats went into the final race on equal points - Cormorant, CorpoSanto and Corinna. Cormorant managed to take line honours on the day and picked up the trophy.
Thank you to the RBYC for laying on the weekend, to the RCYC team in the box and to the Race Officer in charge, David Osbourne. Without someone manning the start box we would not have the fun we had. As an after note, for those expecting the first of the RCOD Magnum series on June 10th followed by a wine tasting we have decided to postpone the event. A number of helms are away that weekend so we are looking to reschedule.