West Country Boat Repairs 2000 Class Millennium Series at Chichester Yacht Club

2000 class Millennium Series at Chichester © Mark Foley

Chichester YC welcomed 20 boats to the last Millennium Series event of the year, a one-day open sponsored by West Country Boat Repairs, with Noble Marine sponsoring the youth entries.

Despite the F5 forecast in the week leading up to the event, we were greeted by F1 and occasional light drizzle. Competitors were welcomed by Mike McEwing, the new class chairman, before passing over to our race officer for the day, Bill Grose, who finished his briefing by promising us wind and sun come the afternoon.

Race 1 started in a light breeze and dry conditions with the tide pushing competitors back from the line, making it difficult to cross the line on starboard. Learning from a similar experience at Thorney Island a few weeks before, a small group of boats stayed high, and started on the pin end, tacking immediately onto port, leaving the rest of the fleet struggling to cross the line. Chris and Gill Jordan, Rob and Sarah Burridge, and Helen and Andrew Phillips opted for the shallower water to the left hand side of the channel, whilst newcomers Jonathan and Matthew Bailey hugged the right hand shore, leading us to wonder whether they had some sort of local knowledge. Chris and Gill reached the windward mark just head of Rob and Sarah, followed by Jonathan and Matthew. As the wind started to drop slightly, the field spread out around the course, and the Jordans maintained their lead just ahead of the Burridges. As the race officer raised the shortened course flag, a tense race to the finish line saw the Jordans going inshore for less tide, whilst the Burridges tacked off for a short distance into the tide and slightly more wind. The Jordans took the race by just a few inches from the Burridges, with Team Phillips gaining a place on the last downwind leg to take 3rd place at the line.

At the start of race 2, with the wind shifting towards the SW the windward mark was moved closer inshore. The race started in a very light winds, with the boats starting towards the pin end making the better starts up the beat, but after just a few minutes the wind completely disappeared across the whole course. The wind started to fill in slowly from the SE, and again the Jordans were well placed to take advantage and pulled out a large lead, taking a second bullet of the day from the Baileys, with Richard Parr and Paula Maas in third.

The race officer moved the committee boat for race 3 to take better advantage of the building SE wind and sunshine (he did promise both!). This time, with the tide pushing boats over the line, and the pin end favoured, a gaggle of boats found themselves with nowhere to go, and the Jordans were OCS. A smartly executed gybe around the pin found them back in contention and pushed onto the favoured left hand side of the course by a starboard boat. Rob and Sarah were determined not to end the day without a win and made the windward mark first from Chris and Gill. In the rest of the fleet, there were places changing throughout the race, but the top 5 places had settled down by lap three and remained until the finish where Rob and Sarah finally took the honours to win from Chris and Gill.

The post-racing afternoon tea at Chichester is legendary and once again lived up to its reputation. Overall winners Chris and Gill Jordan were presented with the Idun trophy, with Rob and Sarah Burridge in 2nd place and Jonathan and Matthew Bailey taking 3rd and leading family/junior boat. The competition for the most memorable start of the day was judged by the race officer, and awarded to Guy and Julie Boswell for misdemeanours involving the tide and the committee boat at the start of race 3. Joe Gallivan and Mike McEwing were awarded the West Country Boat Repairs prize for most consistent results, scoring 3 x 6th places.

Thank you to Chichester YC for yet another well run and organised event.

The fleet is looking forward to the Inland Championships at Cardiff Bay Yacht Club on 16th October, and for those who can make it to Cardiff a day early, the opportunity to sail on Challenge Wales, one of the original Challenge 72 racing boats.

Overall Results: