Championship of the Alde at Aldeburgh Yacht Club
by John Adcroft 25 Oct 2015 14:59 GMT
24 October 2015
Ian Robson & Sandy Johnson receive the Championship of The Alde from AYC Vice Commodore Tikkii Mawson © John Adcroft
Aldeburgh Yacht Club's season finale, although the Winter Series continues on Sunday mornings until mid December, is the Championship of the Alde. Starting from the club line the race is down river past Orford then rounding Dove point to the south of Havergate Island before retracing your steps back to finish on the club line a distance in excess of 15 miles.
The start line saw 26 start with boats as diverse as a 12ft Aldeburgh Lapwing starting alongside a classic 8 metre; together with assorted dinghies and keelboats including K6s, Wayfarers, Loch Longs and Dragons.
The beat down river was with an ebbing tide leaving a tactical run back into the ebb. Line honours were claimed by Alistair Warren in his International Canoe Dragonfly followed by ex- European K6 Champion Ian Robson in K6 162 Cloud Nine.
When handicaps were calculated the Int Canoe was third 19 seconds behind the winner, second place was Wayfarer 10803 sailed by Jonathan Christie just 14 seconds behind the winner Ian Robson and Sandy Johnson in K6 "Cloud Nine". With two K6's finishing in the top 5 the strength of the class at Aldeburgh continues to grow.
Championship of the Alde Results:
1st K6 162, Ian Robson
2nd Wayfarer 10803, Jonathan Christie
3rd Int Canoe 317, Alistair Warren
4th Beneteau 5704, Henry Gordon-Jones
5th K6 211, Simon Sydenham
In the six Saturdays preceding the Championship sailors competed in the Club's Autumn Points Series. This year the weather gods were kind and all 6 races were sailed allowing for 2 discards. The largest fleet, with their own start, were the Loch Longs with 23 entries. The winner was Simon Fulford with a margin of 3 points over Bruce Johnson. Handicap B was comfortably won by Duncan Matthew in his National 12. Handicap A was dominated by the K6's with a first and second.
Autumn Series Results:
Handicap A
1st K6 109, Overdraught, John Adcroft
2nd K6 162, Cloud Nine, Ian Robson
3rd Flying 15 3537, Hot Chocolate, Tom Dunn
Handicap B
1st National 12 3465, Crouching Tiger, Duncan Matthew
2nd Laser 171939, John Chalker
3rd Squib 646, Vital Spark, Peter Wyllie
Loch Longs
1st Whim 137, Simon Fulford
2nd Hussar 110, Bruce Johnson
3rd Fiona 141, Robert Mulcahy