Crouch Yacht Club Nutcracker Series - Race 1
by Phillip Harbott 28 Nov 2017 05:53 GMT
26 November 2017
Mantra during race 1 of the Crouch Yacht Club Nutcracker Series © Alan Shrimpli
Thermals were the order of the day as 7 yachts braved the Artic chill of a stiff West North Westerly wind for the first race in the CYC Nutcracker Series.
The last hour of an ebb tide saw the fleet set off up river towards Fairway No. 13, Double Trouble, Duncan Haley's Corby 29, got the best start followed by Digger Harden and Pete Jackson's J80 Glorious Fools, with Mantra, Phillip Harbott's Aphrodite 101, this week helmed by Ian Hart, hot on their heels. As the two lead boats tacked onto port it looked as though both would have to duck Mantra but Double Trouble managed to get across her with only the J80 having to bear away and go behind. At the windward mark Double Trouble rounded first, and with a quick bear away set, were off down river to Fairway No. 5; Mantra were not far behind, hoisting their spinnaker quickly, next were Glorious Fools helmed by Ben Harden who, with the J80's asymmetric spinnaker, had to put in many gybes on the running leg to No. 5.
Behind the three lead boats were Exile, Paul Trueman's X37 electing to go without a kite, with Sapphire owned by Martin and Kirsty Brooks following with Mark Lyons' Dehler 34 Martinique following also choosing white sails on the first run being only two-handed. The SJ27 Grace and Danger (Gosling/Courts and Noble) were sailing well and were not far behind this group.
The fleet, whose positions on this leg of the race did not change, had a long beat to Cliff via No. 15 and then a fetch to Canewdon. The gybe at the mark caused the X37 problems, and she lost a lot of time here, leaving her trailing the fleet on corrected time. On the down wind leg from Canewdon, in a building breeze, the J80 put in many gybes, some of which didn't always go as planned, and on the plane looked very impressive, finally managing to get through Mantra. Just before Fairway No. 13. Martinique put her spinnaker up and carried it to just before the finish, however, like Sapphire had before, had to drop before gybing in order to keep control of the boat.
As Double Trouble neared the CYC line under small AP kite, rolling in the breezy conditions, the race officer signalled a shortened course, and they took line honours with Glorious Fools finishing next closely followed by Mantra. On corrected time Mantra won the race beating Double Trouble by just 5 seconds. Glorious Fools were third, with Grace and Danger fourth.