Haven Ports Yacht Club Spring Series - Race 1
by Robert Leggett 6 Apr 2008 23:33 BST
6 April 2008
Competitors arriving at Suffolk Yacht Harbour for the Haven Ports’ opening yacht race of the year found that it was snow and no wind that was awaiting them, after a week when the sun had been shining! Still, 14 yachts with over 80 crew made the start line.
Fortunately, the wind filled in before the start, which allowed race officer Bob Browne to set a course which took yacht just out to sea and around the Outer Ridge and Foxes buoys.
On the run down river against the tide, Alan Major’s Swan 41 Moustique established an early lead in class 2 from Richard Hayward’s Oyster 37 Golden Phoenix. Meanwhile in class 1 the fleet stayed closely packed, with several different boats taking a turn in the lead. The run in the tight confines of the river didn’t suit the asymmetric spinnaker boats, with both Nigel Theadom’s J80 Jeronimo and Kevin Moll’s J109 Jura suffering badly.
Spinnakers were carried all the way to Foxes buoy at sea, where they would be dropped for the yachts to turn onto the beat and head for home. At this mark, an unfortunate collision occurred between Jeronimo and Mick Fuller’s Projection 762 White Lightning, resulting in damage to Jeronimo. The resulting protest will be heard shortly!
More snow and a little hail on the beat back to Harwich Harbour made life uncomfortable for the crews sitting the boats out on the rail. Meanwhile, the flat water and fresh breeze which had built suited Robert Leggett’s little Impala 28 Monkey Business, who was able to make substantial gains by out pointing many of her competitors.
The fair tide kept the fleet quite close together on the way back up the river, with Iain Kirkpatrick’s X-332 Fatjax fighting her way through the class 1 fleet.
The final result saw Monkey Business start her defence of last year’s club championship with a win by some margin from Fatjax and Moustique.
Day 1 Results:
Overall:
1st Monkey Business
2nd Fatjax
3rd Moustique
4th Red Macaw, Sigma 38, John & Jackie Edwards
5th Saponetta, Sunfast 32, Peter Starling
6th Golden Phoenix
Class 1:
1st Fatjax
2nd Red Macaw
3rd Demijon II, Sunfast 37, David & Eileen Card
Class 2:
1st Monkey Business
2nd Moustique
3rd Golden Phoenix