156th Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club Annual Regatta - Days 3 & 4
by Adam Saltonstall 9 Aug 2013 08:22 BST
3-10 August 2013
Day 3
Lighter airs threw up a mixed bag for the 24 boats who took to the water for races 5 and 6. With the wind being, thankfully, a little more than the forecasted 1 knot, an eastery/south-easterly force 2-3 left the fleet starting from mark 2, just off the north pier and heading out towards windward marks 0 and 5 for the 2 sets of classes. Sadly an early windshift meant little of the beat was left to fight up for the squibs and YODs, leaving the OOD no choice but to drop in temporary mark T for the 2nd race.
B Class - Crusiers
With the lighter airs, numbers increased again in the cruiser class to bring 8 boats to the start line, perfectly timed with the squibs charging back to their leeward mark, which also happened to be the pin end of the line! With a relatively clean start by all the boats, Starchick, Hippie Chick and Aquaholic again lead the fleet around the course and over the line. After the numbers were crunched and the times corrected however, it was the returning Danish Folkboat Sundance, helmed by the ageing dog of the sea, Gary Kaye, who stole the show, beating Starchick into 2nd place. The 2nd race followed very much the same pattern, albeit with a slightly different result at the end. The corrected times showed Starchick winning from Sundance, with Aquaholic in 3rd place.
C Class – Squib Class
After Ghost's dominance in the heavy winds of the last 2 days, having claimed 3 wins from 4 races, it was Porkers who proved their strength in the light stuff, showing good pace off the line and excellent pointing to windward. However, Ghost chose the right side of the beat, gaining well from a wind shift to lead at the windward mark by a couple of boat lengths. However, this gap was soon closed on the downwind leg, with the lead changing hands on the 2nd round which Porkers held through to the finish-line. Kaizen and Threadbare also had a good scrap behind for 3rd/4th place, with Kaizen taking 3rd in the end. The 2nd race followed straight after with Porkers taking a commanding hold of the race after Ghost had led to the 1st windward mark. Ghost could do little to close the gap, finishing a clear distance behind Porkers on the line. Will Jones made a good case for taking the helm of Threadbare more often, finishing close behind in 3rd.
E Class - YODs
With Iolanthe showing good form on Monday, Blackie and Mona had to be on their guard on Tuesday to ensure they maintained 1st and 2nd in the overall series respectively. The 1st race however belonged to Iolanthe as it was her spinnaker which appeared 1st from the windward mark, and led the fleet around the course from then onwards. Mona and Blackie gave good chase but were resigned to battling for 2nd place, with the latter coming out on top. The 2nd race followed suit, with Iolanthe showing that race 5 wasn't a fluke, again leading and winning by clear water by the end of the day. Racing was a little tighter between Mona and Blackie though, with Mona this time claiming 2nd place.
D Class – Contessa 26s
Race 5 saw the reintroduction of Tessador to the Contessa class for the week, and with it, a change in the results. Race 1 saw a fairly even race with the fleet well spread out by the 1st windward mark, with Daisy Dog taking a commanding lead which they held through to the finish line. Tessador scrapped with Contessa Juliet for 2nd place, with the prize eventually going to Tessador. In the 2nd race however Daisy Dog didn't have it all their own way as Tessador 'played the game' on the start line, calling windward boats to keep out of the way, forcing Dais Dog OCS. This left them in an unassailable position as Tessador, True Blue and Contessa Juliet sailed off into the distance to battle it out for the top 3 positions. By the end of the race it was Tessador's tactics paid off as they held out for their first race win of the week. Typical fair weather sailor; turns up on their 1st day and throws the proverbial cat amongst them!
Following these results, Porkers has now claimed the North of England Championship prize in the Squibs (1st 6 races, 1 discard) (1st 6 races, no discard). Blackie also take the Roland Winn 1926 cup in the YOD class (1st 6 races, no discard). Still plenty of silverware up for grabs with 7 races left for the YOD and Squib classes and 5 for the Contessas and Crusier class.
A final plea for orders for photography CDs today please. Amy is not here for the rest of the week, so get your order to her tonight (she intends devouring half a pig tonight!) Orders may still be taken after today but prices cannot be guaranteed (my beer funds need topping up!) I strongly advise speaking to Amy tonight!
Happy sailing and please get any nominations for the Jacket to The Commodore before prize-giving. Romayne is rather desperate to get rid of it!
Day 4
A light easterly, swinging northerly, of 5-10 knots on Wednesday were followed by bigger seas and stronger winds from the south east on Thursday. Windward / Leewards for the smaller boats and triangle courses for the bigger boats kept everyone busy and on the toes for the 2 days and some excellent racing all round across 4 races for all 4 fleets.
B Class – Cruisers
Starchick were keen to maintain their good start to the week and stayed true to their handicap in races 7&8, leading the fleet across the line at the finish by a big enough margins to claim 2 wins on corrected time. Meanwhile Aquaholic gave chase close behind, only to be outdone by Sundance who managed to sneak through in 2nd in both races ahead of them. In Thursday's heavier weather, Aquaholic showed excellent pace in the 1st race, giving good chase behind Starchick and finishing a short distance behind them. However it was again Sundance who, having finished a little further back, clawed back the time on handicap to take 1st place by 2 minutes from Aquaholic. Meanwhile, Billy Whizz was found to be having a 'little' spinnaker trouble, forgetting to cleat off the spinnaker halyard and having to watch it drop and wrap itself around their keel! Oh dear, Simon. Kite's work best like any builder will tell you a good erection does...keep it up! With the increasing wind for the 2nd race, Sundance headed for the calm of the harbour, leaving the rest of the fleet to battle it out! A poor start by Starchick was soon corrected and they soon built a good lead by the windward mark, eventually crossing the line 4 minutes ahead of Aquaholic, corrected to less than 3 minutes on handicap time
C Class – National Squib Class
Having already claimed the trophies for the first half of the week, Porkers were keen to take a tighter hold on the overall results. In Wednesday's light airs, they did exactly that, showing excellent pace and pointing to windward to claim away from Ghost, and take a commanding lead in the 1st race to win clearly from Ghost. The 2nd race saw a big windshift and a new windward mark, 'T'. With initial tacking up the beach on the 1st beat, Porkers went on to again take a clear lead. However the real battle was between Kaizen and Ghost, with the latter taking on the challenge on the spinnaker leg, sneaking an overlap at the leeward mark to move through into 2nd, which they held after some match-racing style tacking up the following beat. Thursday's heavier weather brought good fortune for Ghost, knowing that they had to prevent Porkers from winning both races on the day and taking the overall title. A strong start left Ghost in 1st place at the first windward mark, leaving Kaizen and Porkers to fight for 2nd place. A fight which duly ensued at the leeward mark, with a big luffing match resulting in both boats failing to round the mark and instead heading straight at Ghost! Luckily, instead of scything her in 2, both boats manoeuvred around her with Porkers hitting the mark and Kaizen missing it completely! Porkers completed the necessary turns and managed to catch and overtake Kaizen a couple of legs later. Ghost again showed good pace in race 10, to win from Porkers, albeit in a much less eventful race and from a much closer distance. This brings results all square between Ghost and Porkers, with 5 wins and 5 2nd places each, leaving the series as a 'best-of-3' event on Friday.
D Class – Contessa 26s
With results starting to mix up a little in the Contessa class, 2 days of very mixed winds were always going to provide further complications! Daisy Dog were keen to protect their position at the top of the leader board, but had to settle for two 2nd places in Wednesday's races. Having led for parts of the 1st race however, Tessador managed to claim the win, showing good pace downwind. However, Jeff Preece must have dished out several lashes of the cat 'o' nine tails to his scurvy crew after this as they guided Contessa Juliet to 3 wins in a row over races 8,9 and 10. This included having seen Daisy Dog reach the windward mark ahead of them, only to overhaul them on the downwind leg. A nomination for the jacket though surely for the team aboard Tessador as they decided to go fishing with their kite over the stern of Tessador. A mistake which evidently cost them their kite, having torn it clean in half!
E class – Yorkshire One Designs
A strong start to the week by Blackie was in danger of slipping away after a series of good results for Iolanthe. And the problem was further confounding by an excellent start and pace from Mona in race 7, leading the fleet around the course to claim their 2nd win of the week. However, Blackie was keen to atone for their slip-up and went on to win the following 3 races, albeit from positions further back down the fleet. In fact it was Joca who proved to be the surprise package of Wednesday and Thursday, leading at various points of Thursday. However, they were unable to hold on to these leads, eventually coming away with two 4ths and a 3rd. A particularly nasty looking twist in their spinnaker certainly costing them at least 1 place on Thursday. Iolanthe managed to claw their way back from a couple of dodgy situations on Thursday, particularly in claiming a 2nd from a distant 4th in race 8.
A busy final day of the series tomorrow sees 3 races for the YOD and Squib class – I hope you've all noticed the L notice stating that Class E & C will start 1 hour later than the published time. Cruisers and Contessa remain unchanged for their coastal race. Have a good day guys and girls and enjoy whatever Friday has to offer!
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