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National Swallow In-Harbour Championship at Itchenor Sailing Club - Norman Moore Trophy

by Mike Wigmore 29 May 2023 17:48 BST
Swallow In-Harbour Championship at Itchenor for the Norman Moore Trophy © Kirsty Bang

This year the National Swallow Class is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the 1948 Olympic Regatta when K7 Swift, sailed by Stewart Morris and David Bond, won gold. With a fleet of thirty Swallows expected at the Anniversary Championships to be hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron on the 15/16th July something quite special is expected. This event will be the largest gathering of these modern classics in recent memory.

Over the late May bank holiday weekend twenty four National Swallows enjoyed sparkling one design racing at Itchenor Sailing Club as the perfect build up to Anniversary Championships. The Norman Moore trophy is the unofficial in-harbour class championship. The depth of talent on show was reflected in the results, where neither the current National Champion nor last year's winner made it to the podium.

The racing on both days was held in a shifting north easterly breeze keeping all the competitors on their toes. Carolyn Brigg's Marengo secured the first race by a huge margin and went on to another convincing win in race three making her the overnight leader but Osprey, helmed by James Hartley, after a difficult first race, was hot on their tails with a win in race two.

On Sunday the north easterly breeze was stronger, but just as shifty. Hugo Fisher and Nigel Masding's Svala maintained their consistency never dropping out of the top three and Mike Wigmore's Gwaihir kept the pressure on with another second in race four but, in the end, it was Osprey that moved up to another gear to take the last two races, and with that the coveted Norman Moore trophy.

Completing the podium was Buccaneer S66 built by Mike Bond in 1978 and skillfully sailed by him this weekend showing that neither a brand new boat nor a brand new helm is required to do well in this classic dayboat class.

Overall Results:

PosBoat NameSail NoOwner/SyndicateR1R2R3R4R5Pts
1stOsprey95James Hartley ‑712115
2ndSvala89Hugo Fisher 32‑43210
3rdMarengo82Carolyn Brigg 1316‑911
4thGwaihir93Mike Wigmore 26‑82414
5thBuccaneer66Mike Bond 4‑1365722
6thSolitude67Andrew Reid Roger Roberts67‑94623
7thSpectre91Adrian Fisk 5(DSQ)311827
8thSwift7John Perry105513(DNC)33
9thGhost96Philip Swatman ‑118771133
10thBluff64Nick Warner 14‑171412343
11thMigrant86Charles Fisher 8121214(DNC)46
12thCurlew 100%70James Baron 13(DSQ)11171354
13thEcho87Simon Miller Charles Hindson1591616(DNC)56
14thPtarmigan68Alistair Impey 161513‑191256
15thKansu83Jamie Birkett (DSQ)101015DNC60
16thMeridian77Andy Fitzgerald Simon Slater(DNC)DNCDNC10565
17thBlue Tit80Paul Giles 124(RET)DNCDNC66
18thGoosander81Tim Taylor (DNC)DNCDNC81068
19thPeregrine84Robert & Clare Sharpe911(RET)DNCDNC70
20thWhimbrel60Peter Snell (RET)1415DNCDNC79
21stKingfisher73Graham Barnes(DNC)1617DNCDNC83
22ndDarter88Tony Glover Kit Glover(DNC)DNCDNC9DNC84
23rdStealth79Mark Walker (DNC)DNCDNC201484
24thMerlin94Julian Kinross Jeremy Thompson(DNC)DNCDNC18DNC93

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