Etchells Ice Bucket Regatta at Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club
by Jan Ford 18 Sep 2019 22:28 BST
14-15 September 2019
The weekend of the 14th-15th September saw thirteen Etchells competing in the
confusingly-named Ice Bucket (a trophy donated by Andrew Cooper and named
after his boat "Ice") - both days saw beautiful September sunshine and light winds,
making up for the rather chilly Cowes Week that preceded it.
Saturday brought a light South Easterly breeze that steadily reduced as the day
went on. The first race was held near Hamble Yacht Services with the majority of the
boats drag racing on starboard to find relief from the strong ebb tide. While a few
gambled on a right-hander that never came, some judged the port lay line from
impressive distance, and others were caught out by the tide resulting in quite a few
turns at the mark.
Sadly, the race was eventually thrown out as it exceeded the time
limit of 75 minutes.
The second race saw a similar strategic situation with most boats
heading to the north shore, although the tide was beginning to ease. The first across
the line was Audrey (Jon Warwick) followed by Plant Hunter (Malcolm Offord) and
Swedish Blue (Ante Razmilovic).
The final race of the day saw decreasing wind,
turning tide and a shift in the top marks after the first lap. All of this conspired to
create a slow motion final downwind leg that resulted in several place changes and
a few differing opinions on how to get down the track.
In the end, Swedish Blue
finished first, with Ice (Andrew Cooper) in second and Audrey in third.
Sunday morning brought very little in the way of wind but much in the way of
sunshine as the Etchells fleet were held ashore, until the allure of distant spinnakers
persuaded the fleet to head out onto the race course where they waited patiently
for the breeze to fill in from the South West.
With the 1430 cut off time fast
approaching, the wind finally came good and allowed the race committee to get
the fleet off the line. With a strong ebb tide, the majority of the teams were very line
shy, allowing the Oxford and Royal Dart youth teams to get a jump on the fleet. Both
teams held a small advantage up to the top mark, but with a course of only 0.5
miles and a building breeze the fleet remained extremely compact, and the
downwind leg saw the pack reshuffle.
After a short, sharp and highly contested two
laps, Exabyte took the lead from the Royal Dart who claimed second, with Jolly
Roger in third.
The teams headed back to shore with Audrey (Jon Warwick) claiming the overall
victory following their commanding first day, followed by Ice (Andrew Cooper) in
second and Exabyte (James Howells) in third.
A huge thanks to the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club race team for running a great event and for persevering in
testing conditions.
The next event is the Nationals on the 27th-29th September, followed by 3 weekends
of autumn racing October 5/6, October 26/27 and November 2/3.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat name | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | GBR 1351 | Audrey (Corinthian) | Jon Warwick / Will Bedford / Adele Young / Freya Anderson | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11 |
| 2 | GBR 1407 | Ice | Andrew Cooper / Mike Greville / James Crampton | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| 3 | GBR 1437 | Exabyte | James Howells / David Bedford / Mark Lees | 8 | 5 | 1 | 14 |
| 4 | USA 1352 | Jolly Roger | Tom Abrey / Matt Reid / Bruno van Dyke | 6 | 6 | 3 | 15 |
| 5 | GBR 1439 | Rocketman (Corinthian) | Rob Goddard / Bryn Phillips / Ed Haynes / Vicky Cowan | 5 | 4 | 6 | 15 |
| 6 | GBR 1438 | Swedish Blue | Ante Razmilovic / Brian Hammersley / Andrew Mills | 3 | 1 | DSQ | 18 |
| 7 | GBR 927 | Royal Dart YC ‑ Youth (Corinthian) | Miles Jones / Fraser Woodley / James Holmes | 7 | 9 | 2 | 18 |
| 8 | GBR 1353 | The Plant Hunter | Malcolm Offord / Laurence Mead / Azat Ulutas
/ Jesse Opoku‑Ware | 2 | 7 | 11 | 20 |
| 9 | GBR 782 | Royal Thames YC Youths (Corinthian) | Ollie Grogono / Jem Lawson / Verity Hopkins / Rosie Povall | 10 | 8 | 9 | 27 |
| 10 | 1194 | Oxford University YC Youths (Corinthian) | Rebecca Anthony / Meli / Josh / Annika | 9 | 10 | 10 | 29 |
| 11 | GBR 1020 | Royal Lymington YC Youths (Corinthian) | Robby Boyd / Ted Blowers / Aaron Rogers / Hattie Rogers | 11 | 11 | 8 | 30 |
| 12 | GBR 1460 | MBF | Grant Simmer / Ben Ainslie / Sam Haines | DNS | DNS | 4 | 32 |
| 13 | IRL 1040 | A Little Xcitable (Corinthian) | Peter Hodgkinson / Sarah Hodgkinson / Ian Kiff | 12 | 12 | 12 | 36 |