Etchells Europeans at Royal Mersey Yacht Club

The International Etchells European Championship organised and run by the Royal Mersey Yacht Club and the Holyhead Sailing Club took place over this Bank Holiday weekend at Holyhead. With Mike Butterfield as PRO and a fleet of 21 boats from Ireland, Holland, Italy, and the UK.

Day 1 - a 20 min delay to the planned 1200hrs start due to problems picking up the mooring buoy in the choppy seas gave an indication of what was to come!

Race 1

With 19 knots of wind the first race had competitors keen on the start line, with the exception of one boat who was way down the track and still coming back to the start. IRL1015 David Burrows, Tom Murphy and Peter Coad had a good start at the committee boat end of the line, with the X flag raised, one boat came back to re-cross the line. GBR958 ROC did not make the first start as they had to return to port for repairs.

The fleet split up the first 17 min beat and were very close on the spinnaker leg, GBR1067 Slieve Elva Sam North, Tom Alexander and Crispin Webb took the right hand gate just ahead of IRL1015 who rounded the left hand gate, with current European Champion Ante Razmilovic in 12th place, and set off to the right of the course as the forecast was for the wind to go right. 9 mins covered the remaining fleet through the gates. NED997 appeared with only 2 crew, the third having returned to shoreside feeling unwell. Disco Volante Graham Ellis, David Massey (RMYC Commodore) and John Collingwood lost one of their crew overboard, who was picked up by a rib, after struggling with their kite.

The boats split up the beat, by the time they came back down to the finish Swedish Blue - Ante Razmilovic, Chris Larson and Stuart Flinn had returned to the marina with a broken tiller. As the boats crossed the finish line 1st - IRL1015 Matatu Dubh - David Burrows, Tom Murphy and Peter Coad, 2nd IRL1330 Crop Duster – Dan O’Grady, Paul Reilly and Owen Meade, 3rd ITA1351 Lady D Marco Cimarosti, Henry Bagnall and Adelaide Giromella. IRL1038 Northside Dragon - finished 4th 5th IRL1323 Fetching, 6th GBR1067 Slieve Elva – Sam North, Tom Alexander and Crispin Webb.

Race 2

Race 2 started at 1345 with the wind still at 20 knots, and the wind steady at 200 degrees only 13 boats of the 21 entries came to the line. They all hung well back with the tide taking them towards the start line - a good clean start. The fleet split up the first beat and after the first spinnaker leg IRL1040 Jabberwocky was missing from the fleet. First round was IRL1038 Northside Dragon, 2nd ITA1351 Lady D, 3rd GBR962 Ragtime, 4th GBR1067 Slieve Elva, 5th IRL1323 Fetching, 6th GBR987 Bedrock. The sea was slightly flatter as the tide weakened although it was still wind against tide.

As the fleet same back down the track, the bright spinnaker of ITA1351 suddenly disappeared as he lost his mast due to gear failure. 74 minutes after the start, the first boat crossed the finish line, 1st IRL1038 Northside Dragon, 2nd IRL1323 Fetching, Stephen Quinn, Peter Kingston, Stephen O’Flaherty, 3rd GBR962 Ragtime Rod Goddard, Tony Thackery, David Bedford, 4th GBR1067 Slieve Elva, 5th Mayhem 1009 Geoff Gibbons, Dave Moy, Helen Draper, Nick Gibbons – the only boat in the regatta to sail with 4 crew. 6th GBR987 Robert Elliott, Mark Cartright, Sam Richmond.

Race 3

A depleted fleet of 10 starters came to the line at 1515hrs with the wind moving 10 degrees to 210, the windward mark was re-laid, the sea was flatter although the wind was approx 25-28 knots. The boats kept well back from the line, maybe remembering the black flags from the previous weekends racing the Northern Championship at the same venue.

The slackening tide and the rain came in, 26 minutes on the first leg, as the boats came down the course to the gate, the fleet split between the two buoys the 1st boat IRL1038 took the left hand one, 2nd IRL1015 went round the right hand one, 3rd GBR937 Evelina, 4th GBR962, 5th GBR987, 6th IRL954.

The boats came down to the finish after 70 mins racing, 1st IRL1015 Matatu Dubh, 2nd IRL1038 Northside Dragon, 3rd GBR37 Evelina, Sam Carter, Richard Glen, Tudor Owen, 4th GBR987 Bedrock, 5th GBR962, 6th GBR1067 Slieve Elva.

Race 4

Day 2 dawned with light winds and bright sunshine, Marco Cimarosti who had travelled all the way from Italy was preparing to take his boat home. Dick Cowan’s boat had a cracked mast, but he was able to change boats and moved into NED997 to cover for the sick crewman.

19 starters came to the line, wind 190 degrees and 14knots a perfect sailing day, GBR1067 was caught out by the starting procedure and as the fleet started was still coming down the course to the start. A general recall due to eager competitors with the tide under them gave a second chance to GBR1067. The restart at 1050 was under a black flag and unfortunately this caught out IRL1330 Dan O’Grady on Crop Duster and GBR937 Evelina – Sam Carter.

On the first downwind leg to the gates only 4 of the boats took the right hand gate with the others going through the left hand one, headed by GBR1333 Ante Razmilovic who was back after his gear failure from Race 1, followed by IRL1330 Crop Duster and IRL1038 Northside Dragon, the first 8 boats taking the left hand gate and heading off down the right hand side of the course. The course was lengthened taking it from 1.5 to 2 miles.

As the boats approached the finish GBR1333 Swedish Blue Ante Razmilovic, Chris Larson and Stuart Flinn were first across the line, followed in 2nd by IRL1038 Northside Dragon with IRL954 - The Conjurer Alex Lacy, Paul Derham and Russell McGovern in third.

Race 5

The PRO Mike Butterfield went into a quick second starting sequence for the fleet and was rewarded by a good start, 2 boats were OCS, neither of them realising and sailing through to the finish. The sun was still shining and the waters of the bay were somewhat flatter then the previous day. The top 4 boats swapped places throughout the race, being led through the gates by IRL954 The Conjurer, followed by IRL1330 Crop Duster, then IRL1038 Northside Dragon, fourth place went to IRL1323 Fetching, again the majority of the boat rounding the left hand gate and going off down the right hand side of the track, after 5 legs of the course, the boats were finished just outside the harbour walls so only had a short ride back to the marina.

Race 6

A bright sunny day with a steady wind 10-12 knots saw the fleet come to the start line for the final race of the regatta. Two boats were OCS, only one returned to re-cross the line. With the windward mark laid at 1.7 miles, the fleet took off on split tacks to the first buoy, rounding it some 20 minutes later, the wind dropped to 8 knots. With the top Irish boats swapping places with the current European Champion Ante Razmilovic, a close finish saw Ante beating Crop Duster to the line with Matatu Dubh third and Northside Dragon 4th.

All boats were lifted and packed up for their journeys home, the Irish contingent eager to catch the ferry, the Solent fleet boats ready for the long trail home and the Mersey boats having the shortest journey.

Overall Results: