Eric Barnes Trophy at Christchurch Sailing Club

Race start during the Eric Barnes Trophy at Christchurch © Chris Arnell

Scow start during the Eric Barnes Trophy at Christchurch © Chris Arnell

Andy Rushworth wins the Eric Barnes Trophy at Christchurch © Neil Hodgkinson

There are 3 or 4 occasions each year when all the dinghy fleets combine to race for a single prize. Named after a former Club Commodore, the Eric Barnes trophy featured not just 30 boats but two generations of Barnes family members competing for the prize that bears the family name In a bid to keep the racing fair and to allow the slowest and fastest boats to sail a reasonable time, race officer Chris Arnell set an average lap course, using the fixed racing marks in Christchurch Harbour. The downfall of this cunning plan was that each lap took between 30 and 45 minutes to complete so the duration of the race was pretty much down to whether you were sent round once or twice. Some unfortunate sailors spent a long time on the race course.

The "staggered start" sequence was intended to allow the faster boats to begin a minute before the slower boats, giving each fleet a chance to start in clear air on a relatively short line. Andy Rushworth executed his trademark "reaching down the line on port tack" start (sailing a borrowed OK) but managed to survive without incident and escaped neatly at the start. Several Laser sailors elected to join the slower boats, or so it seemed, as they started more than a minute after their start sequence. This group included a promising young 4.7 sailor, Jack Acton, who managed to spend 40 seconds executing the slowest roll tack in history at the pin end of the line.

Next up were the Scows and slow handicap fleet. The Scows are fairly competitive on the start line which is always entertaining as they tend to remember racing rules from the 1960's, not the latest ones. Once the shouts of "Mast abeam" had died down, our Optimist fleet ventured nervously across the line – rather late, it must be said. Our Optimists enjoy boat handling and tend to tack every 15 seconds, often for no apparent reason other than the joy of tacking. In the strong tide and light winds, boat handling was helpful on the tricky upwind legs and Drew Barnes used his skills to good effect to show a clean pair of heels to the rest of the Optimist fleet.

Further up the race course the fast fleet split into two groups with the Finn of Rory Barnes, the RS300 of Luke Ridout and the OK of Andy Rushworth stretching away, closely followed by Dave Evans in his lovely old Rowsell OK, Merrick Gill, Mike Constantine and Tony Lock in their Finns. The assorted Lasers, Wanderer and Splash soon lost contact with this leading group and would spend a long time completing the race in the fitful breeze.

Leading Scow Sailor, Graham Fairbrass, had the misfortune to be in front when the wind decided to play tricks. Following at a respectful distance, the rest of the Scow fleet seized their opportunity to sail around the hole that had engulfed Graham and Shaun Harris capitalized best of all to lead the fleet home.

In the overall standing the podium looked like a "who's who" of the 1980's OK fleet with Andy Rushworth winning ahead of Rory Barnes and Dave Evans in 3rd place. In his very short acceptance speech, Andy Rushworth said nothing at all before dashing away for a lunch appointment he was already late for.

Drew Barnes was the best of the slower boats in 6th overall, making a decent effort to win his grandfather's trophy. The Scows struggled in the light conditions, with Shaun coming home 9th overall.

30 boats was one of our best turnouts for a single race in 2015 so a big "Thank You" to all the competitors and also the plucky volunteers who manned the committee and safety boats.

Overall Results: