Cherub Open at Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club
by Dave Ching 8 Oct 2022 11:25 BST
24-25 September 2022
Sheppey Cherub Open © J. Bell
Welcome back dear readers to the penultimate event in the Cherub Travellers' Series. After a windy and wavy nationals, our competitors could have been forgiven for wanting a more relaxing event, no such luck. Instead, a very challenging shifty on shore breeze and lumpy waves, even made launching a high skill manoeuvre.
Race 1, Eleanor and Green Bananas broke clear of Poppy and EJ. Eleanor took the lead until the final tack, when disaster struck and Eleanor's crew inspected the boom a little too closely. This let Green through for their first win, while Eleanor limped home in second.
Race 2 saw close racing between all the boats with place changes a plenty. Eleanor managed to find a path through the Ospreys (great fleet to share an event with by the way) to claim the win from Green.
Race 3 had EJ finally put her obvious boat speed to good use and lead Green home to a much-deserved win.
Day 2 welcomed our fine competitors with slightly less wind.
Races 4 and 5 proved that a good night's sleep and a T total lifestyle is definitely not required for Poppy's crew, who finally showed the skills they had been showing all year to challenge the Green Bananas. The only problem was those Bananas are slippery and found a way through to win the first two races of the day.
With the event won, Green slowed down enough to let Poppy through for a much-awaited win, followed by Eleanor.
Yet another event with close friendly racing, with four winners from six races.
Well done to Green Bananas who showed strong pace to win on theire return, with Poppy coming a close second. A special mention should go to Ronin's new crew for learning new skills in conditions not ideally suited to a new team.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Club | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 3217 | Netley Sc | Nick Pratt | Jamie Taylor | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | ‑3 | 7 |
| 2 | 3216 | Grafham Water S C | Jamie Pearson | Martyn Denchfield | 4 | 3 | (DNF) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 12 |
| 3 | 3208 | Poole Y C | David Ching | Oliver Goolden | 2 | 1 | (DNS) | 3 | 4 | 2 | 12 |
| 4 | 3206 | Stokes Bay SC | Jimmy Ruddiman | Oliver Morrell | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | (DNF) | 15 |
| 5 | 2699 | IOSSC | Dean Ralph | Simon Jones | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 35 |
| 6 | 2698 | Poole Yacht Club | Nathan McGrory | George Bender | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 35 |