Junior Offshore Group Great Escape Race
by Stuart Lawrence 20 Jul 2020 13:59 BST
19 July 2020
Bellino during the Junior Offshore Group Great Escape Race © Rick Tomlinson /
www.rick-tomlinson.com
The JOG Great Escape Race offered some brisk conditions and a revised course enabled competitors to finally escape the Solent around the needles Fairway buoy and back to the finish with a few separator marks in between.
Rick Tomlinson was on hand to capture all the best moments of the race with the ebbing tide and opposing wind in the Needles channel creating the perfect setting for some dramatic photography.
Over 80 entries for this race adapted with covid precautions to limit crew numbers proved a great success with all three class winners racing with no more than 4 crew made up of family plus one groups.
Congratulations to Class 1 winners Bellino with Rob Craigie and Deb Fish, who were also 2nd in the Double Handed Class. Not many risked a kite from the fairway buoy to North Head but Bellino certainly weren't going to allow the 20 knots + wind to stop them. If you haven't seen Deb's slot on the double handed webinar, you should watch to see why they are such confident sailors in these conditions.
Class 2 winners were White Cloud IX, skippered by John Donnelly, sailed with 3 of his family plus one. We are certain that John will be celebrating his family success with this excellent result.
Class 3 winners Eros skippered by rising star Azat Ulutas, part of project Scaramouche who continue to impress with great results. Their second boat Riot should also be applauded for pressing on through the rough seas of the Needles Channel and completing the course in what must have seemed a very small boat in high seas.
Double handed winners Ziggy sailed by Kevin Downer and Timothy Eccles finished in just under 5 hours. Congratulations to them both.
All results can be found here.
JOG next take to the Solent for the Home Ports Regatta, a weekend of Solent based racing in the August sunshine on 29th and 30th August... Sunshine not promised!