Plymouth Race Week 2024 with IRC and YTC Southwest Championships and J24 National Championships

Overall IRC Southwest Championships winner 'Triggers Broom' - Plymouth Race Week 2024 © Adrian Gray

Last weekend saw the return of the Royal Western Yacht Club's Plymouth Race Week, with Principle Race Officer Jerry Lock. Sponsored by Plymouth Gin, the event consisted of three racecourses; the Southwest IRC Championships Supported by Spinlock, the Southwest YTC Championships and the J24 Nationals.

On Thursday evening there was a Plymouth Gin Fun Race which was supported by the boats who had arrived early for the main event. This was a committee boat start followed by a 'round the cans' race and finishing on the RWYC club line in the Cattewater.

In YTC the winners were Steve Andrew and 'Sunfire', runners up were A&K Whitfield in 'Tilted'. In IRC the Winners by just 12 seconds were Peter Wanstall and 'Men Behaving Badly', second was Adam James and 'Blackjack', and third was Graham Walker in 'Jackaroo'. As it was a fun race all boats received a bottle of Plymouth Gin!

For the Southwest YTC championships, racing was held from the Plym Start line at the end of Mount Batten breakwater. Fortunately the weekend was to feature southerly sea breezes which enabled a fair line. The first race would be extracted from the Friday evening pursuit race. This is the Chris Moyse Pursuit, an annual race remembering a much-loved member of the Plymouth sailing community.

From there, traditional racing would decide the order of merit. Short courses were provided for the five races that followed, with three on Saturday and two on the Sunday. The series winners were A&K Whitfield in their J92s 'Tilted', who discarded a second in race 5 to show a perfect 5 points over the series.

Second was Paul Hesby in 'Volante' who had travelled all the way from the Royal Windermere Sailing Club. Rumour has it that he enjoyed it so much that the Hesby's are relocating to Plymouth to have more regular fantastic sailing in the sound!

Third was Roy Beswick and his Starlight 'Ellie Too' from the Yealm Yacht Club who had a first place in race 5. Forth in the series was James Elliott and his Sigma 38, 'Aquaessence' who managed four third places. They were equal third but forth on count back based on the last race.

Our thanks go to Royal Western Yacht Club member Nick Head, and Plym Yacht Club Race Officer Keith Kendell who managed the weekend so well.

As it was agreed for the J24s to race outside the Eastern entrance of the Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, the IRC Southwest Championships were held inside. A total of 13 boats made it to the start line of what would be a hugely competitive ten race series. Each day saw challenging conditions, not only for the fleet but more so for the Principal Race Officer (and RWYC's Rear Commodore Sail) Jerry Lock, who's patience was tested on a daily basis.

The plan was for four races on Friday and Saturday, and two for the Sunday leaving enough time to hand out more Plymouth Gin and prizes donated by Spinlock at the overall prize-giving on Sunday afternoon.

Day one saw the Falmouth contingent making their mark early with great performances from Paul Pullen and team from Flushing Sailing Club on their Farr280 'Farr out' getting the first bullet of the series 1 minute ahead on corrected time of local hotshots, Nick and Annie Haigh and team on their Laser 28 'Firefox'. Stuart Sawyer and team on the JPK1080 'Black Dog' came in third just 5 seconds behind 'Firefox', followed by 'Triggers Broom' who finished fourth by just 9 seconds.

'Black Dog' a very well-known name around these parts and a very tough team to beat, coupled with one of the designs of the moment would surely be a tough outfit to beat. 3 minutes 50 seconds would be the delta from first to last, very close racing throughout the fleet which would be a trend that would continue throughout the regatta.

Race 2 would see a local boat, RWYC's Peter Rowe and his crew on J109 "Ju Kyu', take the top slot by just 19 seconds over 'Triggers Broom'.

Race 3 saw 'Black Dog' at their customary top slot with a margin of 5 second win over Plymouth Crew 'Jump and Shout', John Harris' A35, who was just 1 second ahead of 'Firefox'! The top seven boats where within 1 minute of the winner, and once again the entire fleet were within 4 minutes.

Race 4, the final race for Friday, would be around the cans race, which used up most of Plymouth Sound. The last leg was great spectacle with all boats on the same final leg flying spinnakers along the Hoe foreshore. Once again saw 'Ju Kyu' was on the top step with a relatively hefty margin of 49 seconds, one of the biggest margins anywhere in the 10-race series. 'Ju Kyu' would turn out to be the only Plymouth boat who could get to the top step throughout the series.

Saturday would prove to be another very tricky start for the Race Officer, with glassy water right up to 1200hrs which would then lead to a further postponement due to shipping movements. However, breeze would then reappear from around 190-210 degrees. This would soon settle, and the fleet were able to get another 4 great races in. 'Black Dog' won for first two races, with a 40 second win in race 5 over 'Antix', and a 34 second margin in race 6 over 'Triggers Broom'.

Sunday saw the trend of the latter races on Saturday continue, with Duncan Adams and Craig Brown's modified Ultra30, 'Triggers Broom' swept the board in the next 4 races, with an immaculate run of four firsts to put them on the top spot overall and to win not only Plymouth Race Week but the IRC Southwest Championships.

'Black Dog' struggled in the final run in with a total of 15 points which took them from the top spot down to second overall. Nick and Annie Haigh's 'Firefox' had a great final four races with a second and two thirds to secure a third place overall.

At the prize-giving, Commodore Chris Arscott gave thanks to the staff, the race committee teams and all competitors, then handed out more Plymouth Gin and prizes from Spinlock to the top boats. Finally an offer was made to partner more closely with Falmouth and Torbay clubs to create a local regatta scene. The Southwest is probably the most beautiful coastline for inshore racing in the UK.

With the number of regional boats keen to race in the various ports, 2025 could prove to be the start of a regional series working together with the other ports to increase overall participation.

For the overall results please go to rwyc.org/racing-results

Race start - Plymouth Race Week 2024 - photo © Adrian Gray