Poole IT PYRA Poole-Yarmouth-Poole passage races

PYRA passage racing : Poole to Yarmouth and back © Keith Lovett

PYRA passage racing : Poole to Yarmouth and back © Keith Lovett

PYRA passage racing : Poole to Yarmouth and back © Keith Lovett

A strong fleet of 28 boats gathered in Poole Bay for the first Poole Yacht Racing Association passage race of the season to Yarmouth with five classes represented including the multihull 'Smithy' volunteering to be committee boat for the weekend.

The forecast proved to be wrong again but with a favourable SE breeze allowing a fast passage across the Poole and Christchurch Bays and through Hurst under the tide to finish at Black Rock in approximately two hours.

Class One being dominated by Dave Hale's 'Blue Extacy' with two boats 'Destiny' and 'Elevation' sharing second place with exactly the same corrected time following the two hours of racing.

Class Two it was 'Volante' who was to go on and win both legs to and from Yarmouth, Class Three 'Dream on' and Four 'Skykomish'.

An evening rendezvous took place at the elegant Royal Solent YC, a great success with 100 strong crew from both the PYRA membership and a rally of Class 3 boats from Poole YC meeting for traditional Rum Tot's and Loyal Toast at 1800.

Sunday morning the breeze had backed NE and although lighter was sufficient to set a windward leg to Hamstead Ledge, albeit against strong ebb. 'Dream On' and 'MS Amlin QT' were able to break away on port tack inshore and soon pulled away from the rest of the smaller classes. Classes 1 and 2 starting five minutes later soon passed the smaller yachts and many eventually made the windward mark.

However 'Dream On' the smallest boat in the fleet fell short of the mark and struggled tirelessly against the tide until eventually retiring, 'MS Amlin QT' and 'Shed' tacked further inshore right up the Hamstead Point and passed the mark to fly their kites to Berthon on the mainland shore.

With the wind dropping to just a few knots others either retired or required considerable perseverance to pass the Point, avoiding the few rocks, and allow sufficient leeway to pass the mark. Only a few made it successfully, including Brendon Bell in Vento Novo, a Dehler 29 and 'Fraid S'eau who both ran down under spinnaker down to Berthon.

After passing NE shingles 'Fraid S'eau under the last of the tide and with only zephyrs to find now 'Fraid S'eau retired and passed the Dehler in the Bay still doggedly determined to finish in the flat sea.

Eight of the nearly 30-strong fleet finished the gruelling leg home, 'Flair V' picking up the win in Class One, 'Volante' again in Class Two and 'MS Amlin QT securing Class Three.

Some incredibly close results, and a great weekends challenging racing.

PYRA passage racing : Poole to Yarmouth and back - photo © Keith Lovett

Class 1 Results:

Class 2 Results:

Class 3 Results:

Class 4 Results:

Class 5 Results:

1st - Smithy, GBR618M (rating 1.131)