Haven Series Britannia Trophy Race to Lowestoft
by Tim Cross 29 Jun 2010 12:12 BST
26 June 2010
17 yachts enjoy the Haven Series Britannia Trophy © Peter Cockayne
In brilliant sunshine and a decent 10kt ENE breeze, 17 yachts started the Haven Series Britannia Trophy race from Harwich to Lowestoft on Saturday.
Projection 762 Upstart led the fleet off the line at Wadgate Ledge as everybody headed inshore to dodge the last two hours of the flood tide. It was a beat from there to Orford Ness with a "who dares wins" approach to tacking up the shore paying dividends - several yachts were exchanging pleasantries with sunbathers on the beach!
Dehler 36 Berserker and Baltic 37 Cosmic Dancer III were soon at the front of the fleet and were first and second respectively at Orford Ness with Upstart in third, closely followed by First 42s5 Ocean Cloud.
Once the vessels squeezed past the Ness, all were able to ease sheets slightly for the final 25 miles to Lowestoft. The big boats were soon storming through the fleet, Ocean Cloud II and Fast 42s Four Broke and Four Glory soon challenging Berserker for first place on the water.
In the end Berserker held on for line honours, finishing just before 1500, with Ocean Cloud and Four Glory very close behind. The tide turned foul again at about 1630 leaving a lot of hard work for the smaller boats yet to finish.
On corrected time, both on IRC and Haven Handicap, Cosmic Dancer III came out victorious with a very well deserved win, narrowly pushing She 27 Stolen Kiss into second - an excellent performance from one of the smallest boats in the fleet.
IRC and Haven Handicap Results
1st - Cosmic Dancer III, R Walker
2nd - Stolen Kiss, R Mower
3rd - Ocean Cloud II, G Peck
4th - Upstart, T Cross
5th - Demijon II, D & E Card