Cherub Open at Queen Mary Sailing Club

Usagi wins the Queen Mary Cherub Open © UKCCA

Green Bananas finishes 3rd in the Queen Mary Cherub Open © UKCCA

EJ in the Queen Mary Cherub Open © UKCCA

Sunday dawned to a very light breeze with seven Cherubs rigging up to join the club racing for 2 races with 2 further races scheduled for us after club racing had finished. The course was a simple windward leeward with the finish at the bottom.

Race one started on time with only 3 Cherubs on the line at the gun with the rest still desperately trying to get to the line on time in the light breeze. The racing was very close in the light air for the front three with each one holding the lead at least once round one of the marks on the 4 lap races. Even after a capsize on the downwind leg of lap 1 the eventual winner was Andy and Jill closely followed by Luke and Olli in Dans boat and Nick and Dean in Green Banana's. The wind was just not strong enough for the foiling A&E but was building throughout the race which looked positive for the races to come.

Race two got off to with a fairly busy line with the Cherubs just getting to a point where all could twin easily. The race was once again won by Andy and Jill, but with the building breeze Jonny and Alex on A&E managed to get round in second with Dan's boat third. Green Bananas had a bit of a mare, twice getting tangled up in club boats giving room at the mark and locking the tillers extension against their hulls, making it impossible to keep clear. Rounding a bottom mark with 8 Lasers and 2 RS400s is not fun.

The breeze continued to build for Race 3 and 4. With a clear race course it enabled the Cherubs to resume the footing off and blasting upwind at speed. Nick and Dean were working out who was best in which position on the boat for this event with Dean taking the helm for the last two races which proved a more stable platform for the rest of the day. Lots of fun was had downwind with some good runs and some then some bad lay line calls causing early drops to get up to the mark. Dan's boat suffered a jib cleat breakage and headed in for race 3 for repairs but started race 4 only to suffer other issues to limp round the last lap. A&E foiled around to win race 3 with the consistent Peters finishing a relatively close 2nd.

In the final race the Peters established an early lead as the foiler became a submarine at the first mark – a capsize that took a while to recover from. The fleet became a little stretched out in this race as the wind built and boat handling became a premium. The Peters were able to maintain a decent lead to the finish with A&E recovering from their early swim to finish 2nd. Green Bananas had another consistent 3rd place, 4th were the improving EJ with Jay and Guy.

After the last race most crew headed all the way up to the top of the dam for a long kite run home for some fun. Once back on shore some boat swapping ensured as people tried out the foiling A&E.

The prize giving was held in the club house once all boats where packed. The winners of the day were the locals Andy and Jill followed closely by Jonny and Alex in A&E and third was Nick and Dean on Green Bananas. Thanks to QMSC for re-running our windless meeting from May and Andrew Craig and the race team for 4 faultless races.

Overall Results:

The overall traveller series also concluded with Andy and Jill taking the 2017 Honours with new comers Luke and Olli in second and Green Banana's in third. Full results here.

This closes the season for the Cherubs with 6 successful open meetings and a good nationals. Next years program is coming along well and the boat show stand also in the works we are looking forward to a good year in 2018.