Royal Temple Yacht Club - 2020 Series Opener
by Piers Hodges 4 Aug 2020 10:50 BST
IRC Class start – Stiletto, Foxy and Cobra © Karen Cox
August 2nd saw the Royal Temple Yacht Club make a return to something approaching normal racing, albeit with crew sizes limited to the lower of 2/3 of IRC maximum allowed crew, or six people, to comply with social distancing guidelines.
Competitors were greeted with a steady Westerly breeze and pleasant conditions with everyone more than happy to be back out on the water. Nine boats from IRC1 & IRC2 took the start, joined by four boats from the cruiser classes, to sail a slightly shorter course.
Competitors enjoyed a brisk run to the first mark aided by a strong tide, before gybing and attempting to make the second mark against the tide, as the wind softened. It was here that the smaller boats began to struggle with some going backwards on the tide! This led to race officers shortening the course, but still, there were a number of retirements in both the IRC and cruising fleets.
IRC class line honours went to John Barret and Paul Woodward on the Corby 36 'Stiletto', who went on to finish forth on corrected time.
In cruising class, just one boat was able complete the course, with Carine Bishop and Maria Wilcock, toughing it out for over for over five hours to bring home Cordyl II for a well-earned win.
Following the unfortunate, but necessary, cancellation of this year's Euromarine Insurance Ramsgate Week Regatta, the club has plans to run a single 13 race series, with weekly races until the 25th October.
IRC results
1st Foxy - Mike and Jo Brand
2nd Cobra - Matt and Roger Green, Paul Thomas
3rd Kabluzo - Rob Smith