Euromarine Insurance Ramsgate Week 2019 - Day 2
by Piers Hodges 23 Jul 19:11 BST
21-26 July 2018
Euromarine Insurance Ramsgate Week 2019 Day 2 saw the IRC and cruiser classes undertake different coastal courses in sunny but challenging conditions due to consistent 20-25 knot winds that were well above the majority of forecasts used by the competitors.
The IRC classes enjoyed a beat with the tide to Deal bank, followed by a foul tide Northerly downwind leg, with building seas that provided excellent surfing conditions that saw plenty of competitors seeing boat speeds well into the double digits. The same sea conditions provided two more challenging beats and downwind legs to the finish.
In IRC1, Peter Jackson made a near perfect start and led the field away in the Pronavia 42 'Assassin' before being overhauled by Richard Matthew's Ker 51, 'Oystercatcher XXXIII' which went on the take line honours by over 40 minutes and then win, on corrected time, by a more modest three and a half minutes from Assassin, who pipped John Barret and Paul Woodward in the Corby 36 'Stiletto' by a mere two seconds.
IRC2 and IRC3 class boats sailed a shortened version of the IRC1 course and saw Brita van Roussun's IRC2 class HOD35 'Zafara' win by over 6 minutes on corrected time from local boats Foxy and Cobra who were separated by just 24 seconds after nearly 4 hours of racing.
In IRC3, Phillip Plumtree's immaculately turned out Farr half tonner 'Swuzzlebubble' took class line honours, and the win on corrected time, from the Dehler 34s 'Shear Joy' and 'Zephyros' skippered by Simon Farren and Tim French.
The cruisers tackled a course which saw them stay closer to shore, heading to Deal before returning to Ramsgate around Sandwich Bay.
Class 5 saw a keenly fought race with only 12 minutes between the first and last boat on the water, which reduced to just seven once corrected. First place went to the First 35s5 of Danny Besse 'Mrs Jones' from Rick Elliott's Jeanneau 38 'Roxanne' with third place shared by Don Gray's 'Blown Away' and Frank Barrett's 'Maverick'.
In Class 6, Jean Marc Devos made it two for two with a first place in 'Carpe Diem', followed by local boat 'Amelie' and Howard Bates' Westerly Fulmar 'Mallard'.
Bernard Sealy took both line honours and handicap win in Class 7 aboard 'Karibia Breezes' from local boat 'Splash' with Andy Renshaw's Impala 28 'Wild Rover' third on corrected time.
Full results can be found at www.RamsgateWeek.com