Cherubs at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy Skiff Open

by Jimmy Ruddiman 26 May 2022 05:42 BST 21-22 May 2022

Six boats made the journey to WPNSA for the inaugural Skiff open alongside the Musto Skiffs, International 14s and B14s.

Saturday started with a light breeze and sunshine with the promise of the sea breeze filling in during racing. With very light winds forecast for Sunday the RO took the decision to run a fourth race on the Saturday just in case. A decision that proved to be very worthwhile as it turned out. The Mustos were given their own start so the Cherub had some excitement on the line fighting for clear air and space, a challenge that continued throughout the day.

Race 1 was a light; single string affair with everyone trying to hunt for clean air, Poppy was a little bit late for the start seen heading downwind under all 3 as the gun went having been doing some upwind tuning of the rig beforehand. Usagi set off at great pace and rounded 1st, followed by the freshly repainted EJ & Marmite; Eleanor rounded close behind and Poppy was on the offensive with some blistering upwind pace and height throughout the race. On the second lap and Usagi went left too soon with EJ taking the lead and extending from there to take the win, followed by Usagi, a hard charging Poppy just failed to pip Marmite for third.

After a short postponement thanks to a 10 degree wind shift as the sea breeze came to play the second race got under way. Left was the only way to go with the wind bend from the land, Eleanor was seen at some great speeds just not necessarily in the right direction, it was tight at the top with 4 boats ploughing into the windward mark with mere boat lengths between them, this time though it was Marmite in the lead pursued by Usagi, Ej and Poppy. EJ suffered a huge hourglass in their kite which all but ended that race for them. Poppy, using a development kite from new sail maker to the class Moatt Sails chased hard but couldn't quite overhaul Usagi and Marmite.

Race 3 and the breeze had built nicely to twin stringing levels of excitement. On the 1st beat the lead changed 3 times, with close crossings throughout the fleet, EJ ducked both Poppy and Eleanor but then crossed clear ahead on the lay line into the windward mark. Usagi and Marmite both enjoyed rounding together and shot off pushing each other hard, EJ chased but couldn't quite catch the 2 leaders, Poppy and Eleanor made sure EJ was kept honest and didn't make any mistakes.

Race 4 was one to forget for a number of teams, there was some close racing through the fleet but Usagi yet again rounded 1st only to hit something and tear off their rudder and EJ having already returned to shore with a broken shroud wire, this left Marmite and Poppy fighting hard for the lead all race. Marmite having slightly better downwind pace and Poppy harassing them all the way upwind. Marmite took the win followed by Poppy and Eleanor.

The evening frivolities ensued with a well earned curry to replenish all the calories burned during 5 hours on the water and then a pub crawl guide by Rich Bowers of Moatt Sails. There are some interesting spectacles to be found in the local pubs of Portland.

As predicted there was a patchy 3 knots on the race course Sunday morning which completely disappeared, along with the race course when the fog rolled in. Sailing was abandoned and after packing up boats and having some lunch a few of us headed off to the D-Day and WW2 Museum

Thank you to WPNSA for hosting such a great event, we can't wait to return next year.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1	3212	Paul Croote	Andrew Whapshott	Hawley Lake SC	‑3	2	1	1	4
2	3202	Andrew Peters	Jill Peters	Queen Mary SC	2	1	2	(DNF)	5
3	3206	James Ruddiman	Sven White	Stokes Bay SC	1	5	3	(DNC)	9
4	3216	Jamie Pearson	Martyn Denchfield	Grafham Water SC	‑4	3	4	2	9
5	3208	Dave Ching	Oliver Goolden	Poole YC	‑5	4	5	3	12
6	2699	Nathan McGrory	Steve Carver		6	6	6	(DNC)	18