Blaze East Coast Championships sponsored by Allen at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club

22 sailors took part in the first official Blaze event of the year, The East Coast Championships, on Sunday 23rd August at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club on the River Crouch.

Storm Ellen was blowing her socks off in the days leading to the event and so it was with much excitement that the 22 Blaze sailors launched from the RCYC pontoon when PRO Phil Aspinall announced racing would go ahead during the 10am socially distanced briefing in the dinghy park.

All sailors made their way down the River Crouch on a slack tide to the sailing area just past the mouth of the River Roach. The westerly wind was gusting just over 20knts at points and the tide was scheduled to start flooding just before the first race, the locals recognised this meant some large choppy waves would be the highlight of the day.

Blaze East Coast Championships sponsored by Allen - photo © Lucy Ellery

Although it was the first event of the year, the competitors did not hold back with the first start being general recalled. The race committee promptly started the next race under a black flag with five sailors then being OCS and the tone for the day being set with the rest of the starts under the U flag.

Race 1 was the longest of the day and quickly blew the cobwebs off as the chop began to build, making for some testing downwind conditions with many suffering a capsize during a gybe or sending it straight down the mine. Ben Harden finished first with over a minute lead on second placed Malcolm Hutchings, followed very closely by James Hutton-Penman.

Blaze East Coast Championships sponsored by Allen - photo © Lucy Ellery

Race 2 saw visiting sailor Andy McIvor get a cracking start, along with Nick Tolhurst and Chip Cole. The top 6 spots in this race where closely fought with many position changes. Ben Harden took another big lead but lost it on the penultimate lap after a pitchpole. This let Andy McIvor sail through into pole position, with James Hutton-Penman chasing close behind. Nick Tolhurst continued to sail consistently and finished in 3rd.

Race 3 and many were starting to look pretty worn out, but unfortunately for the fleet the wind was still blowing steadily over 15 knots and the sea state wasn't letting up. Ben, James and Malcolm had another closely battled race and finished in those places respectively.

For the 4th and final race of the day, the wind decided to ease up slightly, but the sea state remained. This time it was youth sailor James Hutton-Penman who would claim his first win of the day after surfing past Malcolm on the last downwind leg of the race. Ben followed in 3rd, making for a tie on points overal, broken by number of first places in favour of Ben Harden.

Blaze East Coast Championships sponsored by Allen - photo © Lucy Ellery

After all sailors had returned to the dinghy park and discussed many capsizes, breakages or generally how much they ached already, PRO Phil Aspinall called for the socially distanced prize-giving in the dinghy park.

A huge thank you must be said to all involved in running the event at the RCYC. The club did a fantastic job of ensuring a COVID-19 safe environment. Also thank you to Allen for their support of prizes.

Overall Results:

1st Lady - Alex Porteous
1st Polyester Boat (Mk1 & Mk2) - Nick Tolhurst
1st Youth - James Hutton-Penman