RS Elite Eastern Area Championship at Burnham Week 2019
by Alasdair McLeod 29 Aug 2019 15:38 BST
24-26 August 2019
Legs Eleven (GBR 110) leading the pack before going on to win the RS Elite Eastern Championship at Burnham Week 2019 © Alan Hanna
Paul Fisk and crew repeated their Cowes Week success at the 2019 RS Elite Eastern Area Championship held on the 24th - 26th August as part of Burnham Week. RS Elite 110 Legs Eleven won all six races to take the RS Elite Jeremy Rogers Trophy for the Eastern Area Championship and the Princess Caroline Bowl for Burnham Week at the grand prize-giving at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club.
After a windy Cowes Week this was a light weather series with generally easterly winds allowing the race committee to set windward-leeward courses in the River Crouch. The races tended to be rather long, apart from the final race where a shorter course was set following representations from the fleet.
Following Legs Eleven's perfect score of five points (after discard), competition for second place was fierce. David and Fran Wood's Oink Squeal (RS Elite 48) counted three second and two fourth places and Richard Bavin and crew in RS Elite 68 Serious Moonlight counted two seconds, two thirds and a fourth with both boats finishing on 14 points. Overall places were decided on countback. Further down the results table, Neil Fulcher and crew in his unnamed RS Elite 107 took fourth place and Chris Agar and crew in RS Elite 18 took fifth. A notable newcomer was RS Elite 75, recently imported from Thailand where RS Elite hulls were built for several years.
The Eastern Area Championship is a new event in the RS Elite calendar and this year most entries were from east coast clubs, with the majority from the Royal Burnham Yacht Club. It is hoped to build on the success of this year's event to grow it in future years. Lessons learned form 2019 have been that the fleet prefers slightly shorter races and following his dominance of this year's event Paul Fisk, the only visitor from the south coast, has been asked to provide coaching for the east coast fleet.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat Name | Helm | Crew | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 110 | Legs Eleven | Paul Fisk | Caroline Fisk
Richard Tucker | Hayling Island SC | (1) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| 2nd | 48 | Oink Squeal | David Wood | Fran Wood | RBYC | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | (5) | 14 |
| 3rd | 68 | Serious Moonlight | Richard Bavin | Joey Thompson
Duncan Haley | RBYC | 2 | 3 | (5) | 3 | 4 | 2 | 14 |
| 4th | 107 | Unnamed | Neil Fulcher | | Stone SC | 5 | 5 | 3 | (6) | 3 | 3 | 19 |
| 5th | 18 | Activia | Chris Agar | Lauren Bates | RCYC | 3 | (6) | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 20 |
| 6th | 34 | Flo | Angus Bates | Mark Berry | RBYC | (7) | 2 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 25 |
| 7th | 31 | Grand Slam | Gareth Edwards | Peter Jenkins
Martin Brooks | RBYC | 6 | 7 | 8 | (9) | 8 | 8 | 37 |
| 8th | 75 | Carrera | Jonathan Durbin | Mark Taylor | | (DNF) | 8 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 40 |
| 9th | 102 | Anduril | M. Lovell | Terry Wilmott | RBYC | (DNC) | DNC | 7 | 8 | 7 | RET | 42 |