Knight Frank Champagne Challenge at Exe Sailing Club

Knight Frank Champagne Challenge at Exe Sailing Club © Tom Hurley / www.devondigital.co.uk

Competitors in the Knight Frank Champagne Challenge, the cruiser race from Exmouth to Brixham, faced challenging conditions last Saturday. The race, organised as a fun, end of season event by Exe Sailing Club, began with little wind before finding 16 knots just before the finish.

The race features two fleets: Fleet 1 includes the faster cruisers, while Fleet 2 is sometimes referred to as the Club Class. Fleet 2 started at 11:00hrs, followed 30 minutes later by Fleet 1. All boats crossed the line with no recalls although Colin Leach in Red Fox and Steve Best in Jammin both worked hard in Fleet 1 to get the best position for the start.

Both fleets got away with a westerly 6 knot breeze but that soon shifted and then fell away to nothing. Many of the competitors found themselves becalmed off Dawlish Warren before the arrival of a gentle breeze that backed to south westerly and built to 10 knots, allowing the race to resume. Red Fox was leading Fleet 1 at the first mark, the Teign Outfall Buoy, but Jammin grabbed an advantage as the wind strengthened and took the lead.

By the time the leaders reached the Ore Stone, to the east of Torquay, they had 15 knots on the nose, leading the fleets to divide. Some skippers headed further out into the channel while others stuck close in to the shore.

From there, a good moderate breeze that was gusting to 18 knots took the boats across Torbay towards the finish line off the breakwater at Brixham. Colin Leach on Red Fox found that the wind had changed to a broad reach so he set his kite, expecting a fast run to the line but was frustrated as the wind swung again, to dead ahead, forcing him, and most other skippers, to tack to the finish line.

Fleet 2 found that the wind Gods had not finished with them either, with some competitors finding that there was a wind hole off Brixham. Wind gauges were swinging through 360 degrees for a while before the breeze picked up again, gusting to 16 knots and taking the boats to a fast finish.

The first boat to cross the finish line, Jammin, completed the course in three hours fifteen minutes with all finishers over the line by 16:20 and ready for the evening's celebration supper at Brixham Yacht Club.

Hazel Acland, owner and helm of Xanté of Exe, commented, "The conditions on the water on Saturday were challenging. The wind was extremely variable and shifting all over the place. This demanded constant concentration to watch for changes and be ready to respond. With this being said team Xanté had a lot of fun playing the gusts and trying to get the boat to perform as well as possible."

Winner of the Fleet 1 race: Jammin a J105 owned and helmed by Steve Best with crew, Guy Mogridge, Alan Sands, Ian Bowden and Oscar Jennings-White.

Winner of the Fleet 2 race: Xanté of Exe, a Westerly Fulmar owned and helmed by Hazel Acland with crew, Tom Dunstan, Emily Wright and Clare Palmer.