Euromarine Insurance Ramsgate Week 2019 - Day 1
by Piers Hodges 22 Jul 08:12 BST
21-26 July 2018
Euromarine Insurance Ramsgate Week 2019 started off with the Round Goodwins race on Sunday 21st July.
The 55 strong fleet comprised IRC and cruising classes, drawn from the South and East of England, plus a strong contingent from France, Belgium and Holland, who took part in the 28 mile clockwise circuit of the infamous sands.
A light southerly wind, and a good tide from the north greeted the competitors with some forced over the line, and others caught out and not making a clean start. A dying wind by the first mark caused some boats to overlay the mark and caused some real congestion for the later starting faster boats.
The light winds were short-lived with competitors seeing over 20 knots by the time they were beating down the 'back' of the sands, before an enjoyable 11 mile run back to Ramsgate.
Tidal conditions around the course made for a day which saw most competitors finish the challenging course, albeit with some relying on the well-appreciated patience of the race committee.
In IRC1, Richard Matthew's Ker 51, 'Oystercatcher XXX111' showed the fleet a clean of heels to take line honours. However, the aforementioned tides favoured the lower handicap boats with Wouter Borghijs, A35, Tontin Pups 1st in Class, much to the delight of the seven strong crew comprising two adults and five stars for the future, aged between 12 and 15. Local boats 'Stiletto' and 'Assassin' were second and third respectively.
IRC2 saw Niek Spiljard in his X332, 'Vanilla' win the class on correct time from local boat 'Warrior' and Brita van Roussun's HOD35 'Zafara'.
IRC3 saw local boats 'Buccaneer' and 'Scorchio' first and second on corrected time with Simon Ferrin's Dehler34 'Shear Joy' making up the podium paces.
Cruising Class 5 saw a win for local boat 'Maverick' followed by the Grand Soleil 34, of Johan Bol 'A Boen' with Donald Gray's Jeanneau 42DS 'Blown Away' in third.
In Cruising Class 6, regular cross channel visitor Jean Marc Devos took 1st place in 'Carpe Diem', followed by David Preston's First Class 8 'Luna' with local favourite Michael 'Chalky' White bringing home the UFO 31 'Manãna' with co-owner Candida Ownes in third.
Full results can be found at www.RamsgateWeek.com