Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club Regatta - Day 6
by Adam Saltonstall 17 Aug 2012 20:20 BST
11-18 August 2012
With several boats glad to put Wednesday behind them, the forecast for today didn't look too hot for them either but the boats who did put to sea will undoubtedly agree that a fantastic south/southwesterly force 4 to 5 provided a great day's sailing, with not too much extra strain put on already creaking bones! Altogether 7 boats chose not to race, leaving 24 boats to enjoy Brid Bay in 4 separate classes.
PY (Cruiser) Class
Today's racing again saw the Cruiser class start after the other 3 classes to allow the larger vessels to escape the mud, although 'la garçon de cabine une' aboard Starchick still had to check with other boats to find out when their class was due to start! An eventless start led to the usual suspects leading the fleet around the course, with Starchick, Endeavour and Hippie Chick finding their way around the course happily. All seemed to be going well for all until Daisy Dog's spinnaker appeared at the top of her mast, unsupported by sheet or guy! A nearby source who shall be known only as 'The Sneaky One' managed to snap a photo or 2 on the way down! Starchick led across the line, 2 minutes ahead of Hippie chick, but it was Daisy Dog who, on corrected time, beat Starchick by around 40seconds. The 2nd race saw a clean port end start for Daisy Dog and First Fling, crossing the entire fleet on port tack no less! Endeavour never really made amends for a slightly late start and struggled to catch the leading Hippie Chick and Starchick. Again, on the water, Starchick led by 3 minutes from Hippie Chick but it was again Daisy Dog who won on corrected time; 40seconds ahead of Sundance, who in turn beat Starchick by a mere 20 seconds!
National Squib Class
With 2 boats opting to save themselves for the final day, only 3 boats contested the start line for race 9, and as the first fleet to start Porkers stole a clear lead of 10-15 metres over Ghost by sneaking a port-end, port tack start before anyone else had spotted the pay-off! By the end of the first lap Porkers had extended their lead to a healthy 100metres or so, looking good to wrap up the series for the week. However on the 3rd beat Porkers headed inshore while Ghost headed out to sea and tacked on the shifts, a tactic which paid dividends as they led around the 3rd windward mark by a couple of boat-lengths.
Eventually Ghost managed to hold on for the race win, beating Porkers by a short distance. The 2nd race saw a clean and even start for all 3 boats. With the wind building however Ghost dominated for the 1st time all week and gradually opened clear water between herself and Porkers over the course of the race. Threadbare's daring in not believing the forecast thoroughly paid off as she closed the gap on 3rd overall so that 3 boats are now less than 10 points apart.
Yorkshire One Design Class
Racing in the YOD class is beginning to look more black than anything else...in a purely YODding sense of course! With only 1 YOD not sailing today and having watched the squib start, the YODs chose to head up the line on starboard with Blackie unfortunately proving to be a little too eager and going OCS so having to start behind the rest of the fleet. However they clearly had good race pace as they made their way up the beat, with only Yilt rounding the windward mark ahead of them.
However Blackie soon overhauled Yilt and claimed the lead, leaving Yilt and Iolanthe to battle it out for 2nd place. After some toing and froing Yilt ran out ahead to take the blue flag. Race 10 also followed to pattern as Blackie again led from 1st windward mark to finish, leaving Yilt and Iolanthe to scrap over 2nd. This time however it was Yilt who claimed 2nd place, adding a bit of life to the challenge for 2nd overall.
Contessa 26 Class
After challenging closely for the lead yesterday, the Rear Commodore was keen to put Tessador to the sword as Contessa Juliet made the most of a long tack out to sea on the first beat whilst Tessador headed inshore towards The Spa. The separation paid hugely for Juliet as they led around the windward mark by over 100yards, a lead they held through to the finish with True Blue taking 3rd place to cement their placing in the overall series. Race 10 however proved a little more of a challenge as Anna headed home for shelter, leaving 4 boats on the race course.
True Blue managed to park herself on the 1st windward mark with Halcyon Days looking to round the stranded Contessa. The boats to lose the most however were the lead squibs as Ghost had to take a 30 yard detour whilst Porkers managed to hit the mark. Contessa Juliet claimed their 2nd win of the day, giving themselves daylight ahead of True Blue in the overall series, while Tessador took 2nd place.
With only 1 day's racing left, and the abandoned race 8 not being resailed, there are still a number of trophies to be decided in the final 1 or 2 races to be sailed, as scheduled for the classes.
The Squib class should be particularly interesting as the overall winner will go down to the final 2 races. A quick reminder that both classes B and D start together at 0700hours for their respective coastal races, as per L notice 2. Classes C and E both have 2 normal races still to sail. Sadly there will be no Friday report, but keep a weather eye on www.ryyc.org.uk and the Yachts & Yachting website, or in the Brid Free Press, for the week's final summary and photos when the dust has settled and the trophies have been sorted!