InsureandGo Burnham Week - Final Weekend

The 8th and final day of InsureandGo Burnham Week 2010 took place on Saturday 3rd September. It had been a hard week of racing for those that had managed to do the whole 8 days, but there were several boats who competed only at weekends. The format of the week has been structured to allow competitors the greatest flexibility in their racing.

The prestigious Town Cup, awarded to the first in Class 1 on the final Saturday, went to Stan Fenton and Nigel Cook in their new boat Fay-J, a J105 who won by just over two minutes from 2008 winner Richard Matthews in Oystercatcher XXVI with Assarain IV in third place a minute and half behind on corrected time. Fay-J is the same type of boat as Frank Curtis’ Jump the Gun which won the trophy in 2004 - Frank is still heavily involved in Burnham Week on the race committee. The team from Double Trouble who lost her rig in the strong winds of the previous Sunday were loaned Elixir by Rick and Fran Waterhouse for the event and they came in just 3 seconds behind Assarain IV. Taking part in the race this year was Charlie Pitcher in his Mni Transat 6.5m solo racing boat, InsureandGo. This is tiny compared with the other class 1 boats but eligible to enter because of its huge sail area. Charlie was sailing two up - crewed by his son Tim - which made the long 30k beat hard work. The Town Cup was the start of Charlie’s latest challenge, a 3 year campaign culminating in sailing solo to South America. This follows on from his epic solo row across the Atlantic earlier this year which he won by some 400 miles from his nearest competitor.

It was tight racing in Class 2 for the final Saturday and the Commodore’s Cup. It was eventually won by Hullabaloo, David Evans – who was a regular sailor on the river - from Crouch YC Commodore Paul Drew in Harvest Moon and the Stella Polaris, Fran and Eddie Maggs third just over a minute on corrected time behind Hullabaloo.

There were some significant winners amongst the vast quantity of trophies handed out on Saturday evening at the Crouch Yacht Club: 93 years young Col Bobby Melville – veteran of many Burnham Weeks in different classes, but this year dominating the RCOD class - picked up a wheelbarrow full of trophies, as did another Burnham Week regular – Anthony Abbot’s Seven Isles in Class 5 who also won the Nellie Dean trophy for best performance in classes 3,4 &5. Another octogenarian, Alan Bartlett, Inn Spirit, was joint winner with Amazon, Tony and Chuffy Merewether for Premium Liferafts’ Bell for Best Performance Class 1 and 2 Saturday to Friday. Inn Spirit a previous winner of the Town Cup was 6th this year under five minutes behind the winner.

Tim and Cathy Herring won several of the trophies available in the RBOD fleet including the week’s points which was donated by the helm’s uncle over half a century ago, the family having owned Red Jacket since it was first launched in 1933. This fleet had enjoyed some close racing all week with the designer’s grandson Willy Dallimore winning the Lard’s Cup for the last Saturday race, in Mandarin, a boat owned and raced by his father. With around 7 boats out each day, it was one of the most consistent fleets of the week.

The close racing which had been enjoyed by the large Squib fleet all week continued but Mickey Wright in Spoof was a decisive winner on Saturday by just over two minutes from closest rival Robert Coyle in Humphrey followed by Tim Taviner helming his father’s boat WHait a Minute. Humphrey had won the mid-week points from Spoof on countback with both boats on 4 points.

At the same time as Burnham Week was running, the 707s held their Nationals and this was controlled by Race Officer Kim Allan whose encouraging tones over the radio kept everyone informed. Seventeen boats took part and enjoyed some extremely close racing in this fast one-design fleet. They competed in twelve races over four days and every second counted, with mistakes costing crews dearly in the tight waters of the Crouch. It made for exciting viewing for the other fleets too as they raced around their courses. The windward – leeward courses were set up in different parts of the river to add variety and test skills. Visitor J Powell in his boat Betty (winner of last year’s Nationals in Cowes) won again this year on 23 points with local boat Linkout UK helmed by Stuart Meers just losing out on 28 points. Third was Beaver Hunter Paul Gray who came in with a late flourish of three firsts and a second finishing on 33 points and Racehorse, Richard Bavin, with a more consistent performance over the series fourth on 38 points.

More information and full results on the event website.