Keyhaven Yacht Club Commodore's Cup
by Sarah Desjonqueres 7 May 2019 22:00 BST
6 May 2019
A Keyhaven River full of boats is a beautiful sight and this weekend the Keyhaven Yacht Club bank holiday Monday Commodore's Cup lit up the creek with a steady flow of dinghies making their way to the start line out in the Solent, with the Commodore himself making up the numbers in his Lymington River Scow.
Arctic air was still dictating the unseasonably cold May weather, but if you wrapped up properly it was fine and the wind delivered just enough puff, (although some would have preferred a little more), to have fun on the trapezoid course. Both races got off to clean starts and it was business as usual for Sanderson (Hadron) who disappeared into the distance to bag both wins as the Lasers and Laser2000s tried but failed to hunt him down. For the first beat of race one, Grisley (Laser2000) and his 'fill in' crew for the day, chose a path to the windward mark littered with headers, a decision which allowed more than half the fleet around the mark ahead of them.
The Laser battle at the front of the pack enjoyed a two-way shoot-out between Langley and Phelps, the latter initially leading the charge until the former clawed back the spaces bit by bit and finally took the second spot nudging Phelps into third place. Back down the fleet Grisley and his 'fill in', whilst wishing the reaches were longer and the wind a little friskier, had knuckled down and worked their way back up the places finally ending their race in fourth place, 4 seconds behind Phelps. In the Scow fleet, Aero/Tasar/Scow sailor Harvey was clearly in charge of events finishing the race nearly a minute ahead of the Verdons with Lowis taking third place.
An increase in wind strength for the second race woke up the Laser 2000s encouraging a closer contest with the Lasers. With 3 spinnaker legs, the crews were kept on their toes and in the Reed's boat someone seemed to develop a form of Spinnaker Tourette's each time a hoist or a drop was called for... Grisley and the 'fill in' were now reading the wind shifts a little better, especially on the downwind legs and during the 20 second reaches the boat began to hum along giving rise to broad smiles from the person at the pointy end of the boat. Separating Grisley and the rest of the Laser 2000s, a Laser tussle between Langley, Phelps, Lee, Holden and Handasyde-Dick was in full flow with a race to the finish that split Lee and Phelps by seconds in the end.
Both on the water and after correction, race 2 went to Sanderson, followed in by Grisley and then Langley. In the Scow fleet, Aero/Tasar/Scow sailor Harvey once more showed his skills taking the win, followed in by the Verdons and then Jo Lowis for the second time in the day. The Commodore in his Scow suffered a little from 'tiller extension slippage' apparently, but nonetheless he proudly took sixth place in the race and headed back to the club house for a BBQ and a bit of bank holiday relaxation. Already back at the Club House was Sanderson who just managed to squeeze in 2 races and a BBQ burger before whizzing off to work. Good job his boat is so fast.
Next Commodore's Cup races 3 & 4 will be Monday 27th May at 16:00
Full results can be found here.