Ramsgate Week 2017 - Day 1, Round the Goodwins
by Martin Law 24 Jul 2017 16:14 BST
23-28 July 2017
Ramsgate Week hosted by the Royal Temple Yacht Club got underway with sunshine, blue skies and a moderate westerly breeze. A reaching start sent competitors south for an anticlockwise circuit of the Goodwin Sands for an approximately 30 nm circumnavigation of the infamous 'Ship Swallower'. The 50 boat fleet comprised two IRC classes and 3 cruiser handicap classes.
Favourable spring tides initially gave the boats a welcome boost towards the South West Goodwin Buoy. The 10 nm first leg saw shifty, gusty conditions which rewarded attentive sail trim. Three quarters of the way down the leg the race changed character completely. The wind backed to a south-westerly and strengthened to 18-20 knots. A 6-7 foot swell kicked up and the spring tide reversed rapidly.
This presented a severe impediment to the smaller yachts which struggled to maintain VMG and many were forced to retire. Of the six class 5 finishers 'Raquel' skippered by Chris Denby was first, second place went to Martin Ross of 'Entropy' and third to Donald Gray of 'Blown Away.'
Of only 3 finishers in class 6, Howard Bates of 'Mallard' was first, Dennis Reijke of 'Mallemok' won second prize and Ken Welch of 'Splash' was third.
In IRC 1, Richard Matthews' Oystercatcher XXXI made it to the SW Goodwin buoy first, hoisted an assy and surfed their way round the eastern side of the Goodwins at speeds of up to 20 kts. They never looked back and won the class by 19 minutes on corrected time. Kym and Heather Lyatt's Corby 36 finished in 2nd place after recovering from a kite blow-out. The experienced local sailor, Peter Jackson in his Pronavia 42 was third.
The IRC 2 handicap band from 0.89 to 0.989 with 13 entries was a recipe for close competition with some carefully prepared boats. First placed was 'Cobra,' a First 34.7 skippered by Matt Green, followed by a Buccaneer, an Élan 333 skippered by Pete Pearson, and in third place was Richard Sparrow at the Helm of 'Only Magic.'
Results are at www.ramsgateweek.com/results-2017.php
For more information on the event and activities throughout the week please visit www.ramsgateweek.com, or see our twitter twitter.com/ramsgateweek and Facebook www.facebook.com/ramsgateweek pages.