Cowes Dinghy Week at Gurnard Sailing Club
by Mike Martin 1 Aug 2006 18:11 BST
Taking place just before Cowes Week and with more than 220 boats on the water, this year’s event was the biggest ever, coinciding with host Gurnard Sailing Club’s 75th anniversary year, and must now be rated as one of the country’s premier family sailing weeks. King of Shaves once again provided main sponsorship, with Will King recalling his early days of sailing in the Medina river, and additional assistance was provided by Jacob’s Creek, Red Funnel Ferries and Shipmates of Cowes – these organisations enabled the club to provide day-to-day facilities for the competitors as well as adding glitz to the prize list. A hearty thankyou to them all.
Racing took place from Sunday through to Friday, with the juniors in the morning slot followed by a dozen other classes in the afternoon. The weather was mostly light, with one windless day lost but finishing with 20 knots of breeze on the Friday to ensure pleasant memories of the week.
The juniors attracted a strong mix of entries from local clubs and classes included Optimists and the ubiquitous Pico, which was present in large numbers.
William Barnes made off with the Oppie trophy while Freddie Davies won the training Picos and Edward Conder and Edward Panek the Pico handicap class.
Mike Martin’s Inter 17 was able to stack up some good early placings in the light weather in the competitive cat class, in which there was a different winner every day. Matt Byham and Rob Stern’s Hurricane squeaked home in the last windy race to add yet another name to the winner’s list but Martin had done just enough to prevail overall.
The strong Dart fleet expected to queue up behind resident flyer Robin Leather, but a series of mishaps put him down the order until too late. This meant that in another fleet with a string of race winners the consistent Carl Blenkinsop, never out of the first three, took a well-deserved win after 18 years of previous effort. Jenson Button take note!
The fast group battle between the Bowen/Kellett RS800 and Keith Hayden’s RS700 was won by Paul Bowen – he had a narrow lead going into the last race which he won in the wind to confirm victory.
The RS400s result looked easy for Graham Deegan who had a row of bullets after discard, but in fact was pressed hard throughout by James Downer who managed to take the Tuesday race.
Brett Aarons and Lisa Anderson sailed their RS200 into a narrow lead by Thursday, in front of Pete Newlands and and a late-improving Tom Olden, and tucked away the trophy with a final win on Friday.
Two sailors with sights set high battled it out in the medium group. Henry Bagnall’s Finn took the first 3 races, which a late charge by ex junior national champion Feargal Finlay in his Europe was unable to overturn.
There were several early contenders in the Lasers, with good results for Trevor Scovell, Giles Peckham and Edward Simonds. However, Scovell had to carry a fifth and a DSQ and Simonds faded late on which gave Peckham the win by a single point.
The Laser Radials were the preserve of the specialists from Royal Victoria YC, with Richard Talbot emerging from the pack to triumph after a strong finish with a pair of wins.
Sue Denton and visitor Jack Davies had a battle royal in the Pico class, finishing on equal points after Jack blasted off the blocks with 2 wins. Sue was awarded first place, after the tie was finally broken on discards, and also lifted the Ladies Cup for the week.
No doubt about the winners in the slow group – Derek and Eleanor Ness were the class act finishing 8 points clear – but the next 4 boats were separated by only 2 points, with Paul and Jenny Scofield’s venerable Mirror showing its mettle in second place.
The Yachts and Yachting Trophy for the top set of results went to Graham Deegan and Judith French in the RS400s, and the prizes were presented by Laser number one Paul Goodison, just before some supper and fireworks to round off a great week.
Cowes Dinghy Week is a perennially successful event which has been growing organically for many years, testing the Gurnard club’s self-help philosophy almost – but not quite – to the limit in organising the on and off water action for so many sailors. Long may it continue.
Overall Results:
Fast cats: 1 Mike Martin(Inter 17) 2 Peter Cronk (Hurricane) 3 Dougie Wright/Ian Lawrie(Dart Hawk)
Dart 15 Sprint : 1 Carl Blenkinsop 2 Ed Low 3 Laurie Gustar
RS400 : 1 G. Deegan 2 J. Downer 3 P. Blowers
Fast Handicap : 1 Paul Bowen/Shaun Kellet (RS800) 2 Keith Hayden (RS700) 3 Andrew Paterson (29er)
RS200 : Brett Aarons 2 Peter Newlands 3 Tom Olden
Medium Handicap : 1 Henry Bagnall (Finn) 2 Feargal Finlay (Europe) 3 Dare Barry (Nat 12)
Lasers : 1 Giles Peckham 2 Trevor Scovell 3 Jane Peckham
Laser Radial : 1 R. Talbot 2 R. Gray 3 K. Grant
Pico : 1 Sue Denton 2 Jack Davies 3 Lucy Olden
Slow Handicap : 1 Derek & Eleanor Ness 2 Paul & Jenny Schofield 3 B. Gibson
Pico Handicap : 1 Penny Fulford 2 C. Hughes 3 Mike Peddar
Optimist : 1 W. Barnes 2 C. Whitewood 3 C. Evans
Junior Pico : 1 E. Conder 2 J. Ayton 3 S. Hinton