West Country Boat Repairs 2000 Class Millennium Series Round 1 at Keyhaven Yacht Club

by Chris & Gillian Jordan 15 Jun 2021 16:29 BST 12-13 June 2021

The weather was looking good - hot, dry and sunny - perfect recipe for producing a classic Solent sea breeze. With the weather organised, Keyhaven YC pulled out all the stops required to deliver a superb first 2000 Millennium Series event of the year, sponsored by West Country Boat Repairs and youth sponsorship from Noble Marine Insurance.

25 boats entered with many travelling from all over the country (Ullswater in the north, Lowestoft in the East, Cardiff in the West), arrived from mid-day on the Friday ready for a good weekend's racing. A half-hour postponement meant the potential drift out to the racing area could be sailed as the sea breeze started up, and the first race started in a gentle 8-10 knots from the south west.

The decisions were similar all weekend - inshore on the beat to pick up the tidal back-eddy? Or offshore into the stronger breeze? Rob and Sarah Burridge, the current National Champions, started off with a win - but only after a superb first run and then swapping places with Simon Horsfield and Katie Burridge for the rest of the race.

For the start of the second race, the wind switched on - 15-18 knots, a lumpy wind against tide, and a longer first beat. Simon and Katie (the current SailJuice winter series championship winner) spent race 2 and 3 demonstrating how to sail a 2000 at speed downwind - while many others had the crew in the boat playing the kite, they were both sitting out hard and going high and fast. Behind them, Rob and Sarah were followed home by Kev O'Brien and Gemma Burridge, with the fast-local boats of Cy and Lisa Grisley and Matt Wright with Alex Pepper chasing. Overnight, the top 3 of Simon/Katie, Rob/Sarah and Kev/Gemma were followed by the consistent Cardiff pair of Helen and Andrew Phillips.

The evening barbecue was a great success in the evening sunshine, with the new sailors to the fleet welcomed by a t-shirt for the juniors, and a 2000 travel mug for the others.

Sunday dawned bright and sunny again. The plan was for one race in the easterly, then wait for an hour while the sea breeze switched on for the final race. But as it happened we had another half hour postponement ashore, a drift out to the starting area, and two races in the, rather light at 6-8 knots, south westerly sea breeze. The first race on the last of the incoming tide (long beat, short run) saw Simon / Katie keeping Rob/Sarah just behind them with some synchronised gybing. The fleet behind them had some of the closest racing of the weekend, with the possibility of gaining 4 or 5 places "if only" at many different points!

The final race saw a few boats take advantage port biased start line due to tidal effect and wind shift in the closing seconds to the start. Sam Pascoe with Julie and young Ben in the boat, almost demonstrated how to port tack the fleet - but they were called OCS. Rob/Sarah followed them out from the pin and sailed straight and fast to the closer (tide with us on the beat) windward mark, they held their lead down the light wind runs in the sloppy chop to the finish. The fleet found it very frustrating - with two long runs against the tide - out into the Solent where the wind was stronger? Or inshore where the tide might be less? And even the beat wasn't easy with some boats gaining off shore, and others picking up 2 or 3 places inshore in the stronger tide flowing off the marshes!

Back ashore, and the prize-giving was completed promptly allowing the long journey home to begin. Everyone was extremely grateful to Keyhaven Yacht Club for putting on a superb event including: Andy the Commodore and an excellent Race Officer (with a very tricky job to do in getting the course and start line sorted); the bar and catering staff keeping us all fed and watered and barbequed whilst Covid-secure all weekend; the launching and recovery teams (the pleasure of having your trolley waiting for you on the beach as you land!) all made a perfect start to the Millennium Series for 2021.

The class membership are now looking forward to the next 2000 sailing events at Snettisham Beach 19-20 Jun 21 and Thorney Island 24-25 Jul 21 before the Astral Azure Ltd UK National Championships taking place on the 8-13 August 2021 at Royal Torbay Yacht Club.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Pts
1st		22658	Simon Horsefield	Katie Burridge	Army Sailing Association	‑2	1	1	1	2	5
2nd	Wet n Wicked	2458	Rob Burridge	Sarah Burridge	Weirwood SC	1	‑2	2	2	1	6
3rd	Resilience	22674	Kev O'Brian	Gemma Burridge	RAFSA/Weirwood SC	3	3	3	‑6	3	12
4th	Just Pottering	22696	Chris Jordan	Gillian Jordan	Waveney & Oulton	5	‑8	7	4	4	20
5th	Pretty In Pink	2397	Cy Grisley	Lisa Grisley	KYC	‑12	4	6	5	7	22
6th	IMP	22340	Matthew Wright	Alex Pepper	KYC	‑10	5	4	9	6	24
7th	Swordfish	22564	Helen Phillips	Andrew Phillips	Cardiff Bay Yacht Club	6	7	5	7	‑12	25
8th		22641	Wayne Shirley	Alice Moore	RNSA	8	9	‑10	10	5	32
9th		21439	Jon Harvey	Joe Gallivan	KYC	7	6	9	‑11	11	33
10th	caSino	21102	Christopher Neil Brown	K Manners	RORC	‑16	13	8	8	10	39
11th	OKSANA	2214	Malcolm Lee	Claire Lee	KYC	11	10	11	‑19	9	41
12th	Omni verse Galaxy	21863	Andrew Smith	Isaac Smith	Stokesbay	9	11	13	16	‑20	49
13th	Shifty Lifty / Wave Hopper	21285	Matthew Botten	Richard Botten	Weirwood SC	15	‑18	14	15	8	52
14th	Rooster	22619	Michael McEwing	Imogen McEwing	RAFSA/Rutland	13	12	‑16	12	15	52
15th	Buffalo	2374	Jonny Hepworth	Lou Duffy	Emsworth SC	14	15	12	‑17	13	54
16th	Yellow Dinosaur	2064	Sam Pascoe	Ben & Julie Pascoe	Castle Cove	4	RTD	(DNC)	3	OCS	56
17th	Bunwoo	22694	Alistair Rose	Nicola Wyer‑ Holland	Ullswater Yacht Club	17	20	(RTD)	14	16	67
18th	Dragon Fly	2587	Guy Boswell	Julie Boswell	Llandegfedd Sailing Club	‑18	14	17	18	18	67
19th	Moonshine	21969	John Handasyde Dick	Sue Handasyde Dick	KYC	19	16	15	‑20	19	69
20th	TNT	21995	John Turner	Rob Tarbard	KYC	20	19	18	‑21	17	74
21st	Irie	21413	Joe Langley	Misty Eales / Rob Langley	KYC	(RTD)	RTD	DNC	13	14	78
22nd		2497	Michael Rother	Jordan Rother	KYC	21	17	20	‑23	21	79
23rd		22018	Jan Adrian Robert Hatton	Simon John Newth	Burghfield Sailing Club	‑24	21	19	24	RTD	88
24th		21592	Rob Farquharson	Helen Farquharson	KYC	22	(DNC)	DNC	22	OCS	94
25th		2762	Paul Smith	Charlotte Smith	Sutton Sailing Club	23	RTD	(DNC)	25	22	95