International Dragon Karl Marx Trophy at Burnham-on-Crouch
by Andrew Norden 9 May 2018 09:24 BST
5-7 May 2018
Dragon Karl Marx Trophy at Burnham © Simon Holland-Brown
The forecast for the May Bank Holiday weekend in Burnham-on-Crouch resulted in mixed feelings; warm and sunny, but would there be enough breeze to race? In the end the Karl Marx Trophy was contested as planned, with four decent races form the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club line.
Saturday afternoon and race one on the Town Course had nine boats beating down river and running up, the race seemed to be shaping up as a battle between 'Pageboy XI' (Paul Taylor, Clive Page, Graeme Page), 'Avalanche' (Mark and Mandy Wade, Nigel Cole) and 'Beauty and the Beast' (Peter Marchant, Katie Cole, Neil Connelly/ James Howard). Busy with their three way battle on the South shore, the front runners failed to spot the North shore option taken by 'Sabbatical' (Dan Wastnage, Noddy and Harriet Davies) that catapulted them into the lead and onward to victory. Good call Dan.
In patchy breeze on Sunday morning the fleet set off up river for a simple up river course with two marks. 'Ganador' (Martin Makey, Tim and Teresa Wilkes) was the only boat with breeze off the line and they established an early lead. By Creeksea on the way home, 'Ganador' had lost top spot and finished behind 'Avalanche', 'Pageboy XI', 'Beauty and the Beast' in that order.
The morning race was completed in time for lunch ashore, before eight boats started on yet another Town Course. 'Beauty and the Beast' won ahead of 'Avalanche' in second place and 'Anarchy' (Chip Cole, Nicola Hastwell, Simon Holland-Brown) in third.
Race four got underway on Monday fater a postponement and 'Anarchy' established an early lead and held off a determined challenge from overnight leader 'Beauty and the Beast' who would ultimately be content with second. 'Pageboy XI' took third ahead of 'Avalanche'.
Rather fittingly, Monday was RCYC Commodore Peter Marchant's birthday and 'Beauty and the Beast' won the Karl Marx Trophy for the second year in a row. 'Avalanche' finished second and 'Pageboy XI' third.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Beauty and the Beast | 2 | ‑3 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 2nd | Avalanche | ‑4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 7 |
| 3rd | Pageboy XI | 3 | 2 | ‑4 | 3 | 8 |
| 4th | Anarchy | ‑6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 10 |
| 5th | Sabbatical | 1 | 5 | ‑6 | 6 | 12 |
| 6th | Dax | 5 | 7 | 5 | ‑10 | 17 |
| 7th | Ganador | ‑10 | 4 | 10 | 5 | 19 |
| 8th | Scorpio | 7 | 8 | 7 | ‑10 | 22 |
| 9th | Dublin Bay | 8 | ‑9 | 8 | 7 | 23 |