Royal Temple Yacht Club Spring Series Review
by Piers Hodges 3 Jun 2021 07:28 BST
April - May 2021
Royal Temple Yacht Club Spring Series © Piers Hodges
The Royal Temple Yacht Club held a full spring series of seven races on consecutive Sundays from April until the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of May.
The races could best be described as wet or cold or wet and cold, owing to the rather slow start to Summer! But it didn't deter the skippers and crews, who were eager to get back to racing, and each race saw a high proportion of the clubs' 13 boat IRC and six boat Cruising Class fleet battle it out.
IRC Classes
In Class 1, the well-prepared Corby 36 'Stiletto' of John Barrett and Paul Woodward, proved to be the boat to beat, taking five out of the seven races on corrected times, from the Pronavia 42 'Assassin' who 'cruised' the series on a lower handicap whilst awaiting delivery of a new spinnaker pole. The fast improving 'Kabluzo', a 2020 one-off based on the 'Geek', owned by Rob Smith rounded out the podium places.
Class 2 saw a few boats share the victories around between them. But consistent podium places, and a couple of class wins saw the Green and Thomas owned, First 34.7 'Cobra' take the series from the Poupard family on the X-99 'Expedite' with Mike and Jo Brand in third on the X-34 'Foxy'.
A special mention must go to 'Expedite' who saw a rather eye-watering 22knot speed on their log during a spinnaker run in one of series' 'fresher' races!
Cruising Class
Four boats participated in the spring series, cruiser class; namely, Manana (UFO 31), Cordyll II (Dufour Arpege), Pippy (Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 37), and new to the series Titch (Eygthene 24 quarter tonner).
The challenging weather over the series had only the last race seeing all of four boats finishing. Michael White and Candy Owens' Manana, started the series with an excellent win with just two boats finishing.
The series had two trips down to Deal Dolphin, both races were windward-leeward with foul tide and a bunch of lobster pots to make it interesting. Carine Bishop and Maria Wilcock's Cordyll II had their best starts reaching the Stonar mark in first place for one of the races.
The 3rd race provided a very different challenge with little wind and foul tide. All boats found the beat to North Quern gruelling, sadly Cordyll II, could not get across the start line. However, newcomer to the series, Steve Stokes' Titch mastered the challenges and was awarded a convincing win, 13 minutes on corrected time.
The 5th race in the series provided a long asymmetric leg to East Brake, John Stoneley's Pippy capitalised on the opportunity and took an unassailable lead.
Some lumpy seas and strong winds with foul tide prevented some boats from completing the courses in the series, sadly, for Manana and Cordyll II both getting within sight of the finish line but then having to retire.
Perseverance and determination was best illustrated by Cordyll II, in the last race finishing on elapsed time in 5hours and 38 minutes.