Crouch Yacht Club Autumn Series - Race 8
by Sally Harbott 21 Nov 2017 20:20 GMT
19 November 2017
The final race in the Crouch Yacht Club Autumn Series took place on Sunday and eight boats came out in beautiful sunshine and a good 10 knot westerly to enjoy some champagne sailing. The course sent the fleet up river to Number 13 with the flood to give a windward leg, then they ran down past the club to Number 3, the final part of this leg being a shy reach. The boats then beat up to Cliff and Canewdon before being shortened on the leg down to Number 9.
Digger Harden and Pete Jackson's J80 Glorious Fools helmed by Douglas Duce got the best start with Duncan Haley in Double Trouble the Corby 29 not far behind. John Saunders in Jeannie the Elan 31 in local handicap division were next to cross the line ahead of Mantra, Phillip Harbott's Aphrodite 101. Sapphire, Martin and Kirsty Brooks' Dehler 33 were just behind Mantra, but further to weather in a better position, and Phillip had to duck Sapphire on the first tack. Exile, Paul Trueman's X37 and Martinique were at the back of this group, with Grace and Danger some way behind, but with excellent boat speed and a good weather position in the fleet.
At Number 13 Paul Trueman rounded first in the Local Handicap fleet with Double Trouble rounding first in IRC. Glorious Fools were just behind, with Sapphire on their quarter. Mantra were also enjoying the foul tide run and was the final IRC boat, close to the leaders. In Local Handicap, Martinique were in second on the water, flying their spinnaker, with Grace and Danger, Noble Courts and Gosling's SJ27. The fleet all ran down out of the tide, coming towards the Burnham Sailing Club on the North Shore prior to crossing to the South Shore before the Crouch Yacht Club. Towards the buoy, the leg was closer to the wind, but all those flying their spinnakers managed to hold their kites until the mark. Double Trouble rounded first with Glorious Fools next. Mantra and Sapphire were enjoying close racing, and as they approached Exile, Sapphire got ahead with Mantra getting through the X37 to windward. Jeannie, also rated without a spinnaker found the long foul tide leg hard going, as did Exile, who could only watch as the yachts flying kites closed down their on the water advantage.
The fleet then beat up to Cliff, with the first part being a long and a short, with a true beat from Number 15 to Cliff then a fetch to Canewdon. Double Trouble still led and as they approached the corner up river before the Yacht Harbour heard the shorten course. This meant that they could stay out of the tide on the North Shore and they ran down in the shallow water, gybing out at the Burnham Sailing Club pontoon, taking line honours. Glorious Fools and Sapphire were very close, and Sapphire went to the South Shore to try and get clear ahead of the J. It was neck and neck all the way, but Glorious Fools finished just a few seconds ahead of her. Mantra, the lowest rated in class, were close behind and racing hard all the way to save her time on Glorious Fools, with everything resting on this final result.
In Local Handicap, Paul Trueman in Exile suffered another slow white sail run down the North Shore, but took line honours, some way ahead of the rest, with Martinique and Grace and Danger running down close together all the way to the line, with Grace and Danger just pipping them at the finish by 3 seconds. Jeannie, coming down with very little flood tide left were able to stay out in more wind, and closed the gap somewhat on the others. On corrected time, Grace and Danger won, with Exile second, Martinique third and Jeannie fourth.
In IRC, Mantra won by just over 30 seconds from Glorious Fools, with Double Trouble third and Sapphire fourth. This led to a tie for the series between the Aphrodite 101 Mantra, and the J80, Glorious Fools, with Mantra winning on count back. Phillip Harbott and his crew also won the Russell Smith Memorial Trophy for best performance in IRC. In Local Handicap, Grace and Danger retained the Local Handicap Autumn Series trophy. Prize giving in the club house was followed by the Autumn Series lunch. Next week sees the start of the three race Nutcracker Series.