Dabchicks Sail East Regatta on the River Blackwater
by J Lord 12 Sep 2006 12:59 BST
9 - 10 September 2006
The fifth and final regatta of the Sail East season was held over the weekend of 9th/10th September in glorious sunny weather on the River Blackwater estuary off West Mersea, with 31 IRC yachts from 10 different East Coast clubs entered. Saturday’s two races were sailed in a stiff Force 4 wind, with Sunday mornings race contested in much lighter conditions.
The seasons star boat, Robbie Stewart’s Stewart 37 Ding Dong from the Medway took both Class One and the overall weekend’s trophy, winning Saturday’s two races, both class and overall. Sunday morning saw a different big boat enjoying the lighter airs, Chris Goldsmith’s Haven Ports based X35 Perfect Ten taking both the Class One and overall race win. For the weekend as a whole, with all races to count, it was two more consistent boats - The Geek (Stewart 30, Ian Langston and Dave Kemp) from Crouch YC, and the home club’s Dehler 39 Phantom (Robin Gozzett) – which placed second and third in class, ahead of Perfect Ten.
Robert and Jonathan Leggett’s X332 Monkey Business from Haven Ports YC achieved a clean sweep of three firsts in Class Two, benefiting from her three point rating advantage over the second placed X Factor (John Barrett/Paul Woodward’s X332 from Royal Temple YC), to win the second race by just two seconds! Third up was another Haven Ports boat, John Edwards Sigma 38 Red Macaw, with Martin Jenkins and Charles Penfold’s X332 Blue Beeste fourth. Class Three saw another clean sweep, with Bob Fawkes big Carter 37 Tigo IV from Burnham SC winning all three races. Walton & Frinton YC’s David Evans Hustler 32 Hullabaloo XV took the runner up slot ahead of the Crouch’s Tony & Chuffy Merewether’s Sunfast 32 Amazon and the home club’s Contessa 32 Spirit Of Defiance (Julian Lord and Geoff Payne).
The top of Class Four was a battle between two Crouch YC boats, and it was the smaller, lighter Thomas quarter-tonner Zipper of Russell Smith that won the last two races and the top prize from the first race winner, Duncan Haley’s First 29 Ermintrude. Next up was the best of the home club’s Sonatas, Roger Sydenham and Tony Hawkes' Aubie Too and Jess Gozzett and Jack Grogan’s The Apprentice.
Overall Results:
1st, Ding Dong, 12pts
2nd, The Geek, 13pts
3rd, Monkey Business, 14pts
4th, Tigo IV, 16pts