XODs compete for the Benson Platter at Itchenor Sailing Club's Keelboat Week
by Steve Dover 18 Jun 2025 15:39 BST
9-13 June 2025
Itchenor Keelboat Week (IKW) was sponsored by Soak Insurance and sailed in mostly light to medium shifty winds with occasional torrential rain and some sunshine.
With racing on each day taking place an hour either side of high water, decisions regarding the tide were less important than they sometimes can be, but predicting wind direction and strength proved tricky with lots of place changes due to boats being on the right or wrong side of shifts or where the wind was a little stronger.
We had two visiting boats - X166 Swallow (Ben McGrane, Richard Faulkner, Hamish Calder) and X192 Felix (Peter Baines, Mike Martell, Jonny Lawrence), both from the Hamble division.
X58 Madeleine started the week strongly in 10 knots of breeze to win Monday's race closely followed by X166 Swallow and X91 Astralita in second and third place.
On Tuesday the wind was a little stronger at 15 knots. X50 Xcitation got a good start and got to the windward mark first and went on to win from X91 Astralita in second and X166 Swallow in third.
On Wednesday and Thursday, the lighter winds returned. On Wednesday X58 Madeleine looked to be in control after a good start but lost a couple of places due to a wind shift with X91 Astralita winning, and on Thursday X166 Swallow won from X50 Xcitation after X91 Astralita who was in second lost five places on the last run after getting into a 'wind hole'.
This set up for a tense final race on Friday with X50 Xcitation on 5 points, X91 Astralita on 6 points, X166 Swallow also on 6 points, and X58 Madeleine on a distant 13 points.
However, the wind was very light and racing was eventually cancelled due to lack of wind, leaving the results after the Thursday race to stand with X50 Xcitation (Roger Yeoman, Mike Moss, and Jeremy Llewelyn) winning the Benson Platter.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | Sail No | Helm | Crew | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Xcitation | 50 | Roger Yeoman | Jeremy Llewelyn, Mike Moss | ‑4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| 2nd | Swallow | 166 | Richard Faulkner | Hamish Calder, Ben McGrane | 2 | 3 | ‑4 | 1 | 6 |
| 3rd | Astralita | 91 | John Tremlett | Fraser Graham, Tim Copsey | 3 | 2 | 1 | ‑7 | 6 |
| 4th | Madeleine | 58 | Penny Fulford | Jonathan Clark | 1 | 9 | 3 | ‑10 | 13 |
| 5th | Sweet X | 182 | Mark Palmer | Henry Palmer | 5 | 6 | ‑8 | 4 | 15 |
| 6th | Foxglove | 174 | Alastair Ashford | Jackie Ashford | ‑7 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 |
| 7th | Lizz Whizz | 172 | David Maclean | David Howlett, NK | 8 | (OCS) | 7 | 5 | 20 |
| 8th | Catherine | 26 | Colin McKinnon | Ros hart, Neil Hart, Chris Darling | 6 | 5 | 11 | ‑13 | 22 |
| 9th | Wenda | 71 | Damian Ash | Niki Cath Andy Larsen Michael ODonnell Katie Evans | ‑13 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 23 |
| 10th | Relaxation | 177 | Nick Andrews | P Miram, J Grant | ‑14 | 8 | 5 | 11 | 24 |
| 11th | Felix | 192 | Peter Baines | M Martell, J Lawrence | ‑10 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 24 |
| 12th | Princess Jalina | 188 | David Palmer | Richard Smyth, Stephen Lawrence | 9 | 11 | ‑16 | 9 | 29 |
| 13th | Veronique | 65 | Michael McNish | Felicity Smith, Charles Mead, Andrew Lennox | ‑17 | 12 | 13 | 12 | 37 |
| 14th | Thora | 101 | Amanda Heath | Lucinda Bayliss, Emma Hansell, Briony Burns, Gemma Carter | ‑15 | 13 | 15 | 14 | 42 |
| 15th | Ibex | 32 | Steve Dover | Alan Perry | 16 | (DNC) | 12 | 15 | 43 |
| 16th | Heyday | 173 | Gillian Ellis | | 12 | 15 | 17 | ‑18 | 44 |
| 17th | Harmony | 132 | John Tattersall | Richard Scholfield | ‑19 | 14 | 14 | 17 | 45 |
| 18th | Quixotic | 184 | Gerald Cheyne | Alan Perry, Peter Beckett | 18 | (DNC) | 18 | 16 | 52 |
| 19th | Gone Away | 39 | Roy Griggs | Alun Jones | 11 | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | 53 |
| 20th | Oynx | 189 | Roger Heath | | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | 63 |
