Prima 38 National Championships at Royal Southern Yacht Club

by Adrian Gray 24 Jul 2001 15:22 BST

For the overall result, the event was to be made up of two sections, the Offshore being the RORC race to St Malo on the 6th to the 8th July which was to count as triple points and was not discardable, and the Inshore event. Of the 12 entered for the overall event, seven Primas took part in the offshore leg which consisted of a light beat for the first half of the race, followed by quite a windy reach under spinnaker to the finish. The positions continually changed, with Born Slippy, Hi Expectations, Bounty Hunter and Serendip having the lead at some point. The winner over the line and taking 3 points into the inshore stage was Serendip masterfully navigated by her owner Paul King.

The Royal Southern Yacht Club was the host of this years Prima 38 Inshore National Championships on the 21st and 22nd of July.

For the inshore series, conditions for the 10 competing yachts were varied throughout the weekend from 7 to 20 knots mainly from the south west. Racing got underway for the first of the days three windward leeward courses with the fleet split right across the track. It was to prove a left sided beat with the early leader being Roger Lee and the crew of Fat Diva. Close behind was Andy William’s and Mighty Max II with the rest of the fleet all within a boat length of each other. Fat Diva then stalled out as they tried rounding the windward mark giving Mighty Max II the opportunity they needed to lead the fleet downwind. This leg was to be typical of the whole series with the yachts swapping positions throughout the fleet. This time it was the turn of Bob Gateshill and the crew of Bare Knuckles to be at the front. Both Plymouth yachts then gradually pulled away from the chasing pack on the left side of the course. Mighty Max II held a lower and more favourable line than Bare Knuckles, regained the lead and kept this to the end. Bare Knuckles held off the class chairman John Perry and Firestorm for second with Don Kennedy’s Oz Privateer forth. There was 1 casualty on the first race, that being Rodney Emberson and Bounty Hunter after colliding masts with a Hunter 707.

Race two of the day had a bias to the pin end of the start, with the inevitable bunching up of the fleet one had to come out the looser. The fleet headed for the left side again with Bare Knuckles the only boat having to clear her air. Again it was Fat Diva at the front but this time nothing was going to stop her from getting the bullet. Mighty Max II, Oz Privateer and Serendip rounded together with the rest of the fleet close behind. Bare Knuckles after their poor start rounded last. Fat Diva began to sail away from the fleet leaving the rest to fight it out for second. Mighty Max II was to win that battle but Bare Knuckles were the boat to watch sailing through the fleet to take Serendip at the last leeward mark rounding and finish the race in 3rd position. The last race of the day saw every one of the Primas hit the line together but was found to be a little too close to call resulting in a general recall. When they eventually got away, Serendip found pole position, Oz Privateer, Closing Time and Bare Knuckles rounded together and the rest of the fleet passed the windward mark within just a few boat lengths. David Riley and Andrew Yates’ team had a bit of trouble raising the spinnaker, dropping a few inevitable places down the fleet in the extra time it took to set properly. At the second windward mark Fat Diva and Closing Time had quite a big coming together forcing both boats to retire and Roger Lee to make a visit to hospital. Closing Time were later to be awarded average points but was unable to complete the championships. Roger was unable to continue, handing the helm of Fat Diva to a fellow crew member. Bare Knuckles pulled off a jibe set at the last moment to clear her air and find a wind band on the left. She eventually went on to win having had her lead threatened on several occasions by Paul King’s Serendip. Paul took second With Phil Harrison and crew onboard Hi Expectations, the third boat from Plymouth, getting 3rd .

The evening was spent mainly at the Royal Southern Yacht Club and ‘S Club 7’ was the call of the day!

Going into Sunday Bare Knuckles were on 6 points with Mighty Max II 2 points behind for the inshore championships. With the boat still being built at the time of the St Malo race, this was the best Bare Knuckles could have expected for their series. Oz Privateer and Serendip were still in the hunt with 13 points and with the long distance round the cans race counting as double points both these local boats looked good.

The mornings start was tense, with all knowing that this could decide the championships. Nerves were apparent as almost all the boats were line shy by half a boatlength. However, Mighty Max II stormed into the favored committee boat end of the line to lead the fleet up the solent towards the first of twelve marks. Bare Knuckles broke Mighty Max II’s cover and were able to get from 6th up to 3rd by the end of the beat. Oz lead with Fat Diva again right up there in 2nd. A chase broke out reaching across the Solent followed by the closest tacking dual for the fleet of the whole weekend up the mainland shore towards Leep Spit. All the boats pushed it to the limit, with Fat Diva going just that little bit too far, finding a rock and coming to a complete stop. Oz then sailed a superb race to eventually win with Bare Knuckles ever consistent in 2nd. Hi Expectations took 3rd and Fat Diva recovered to 4th.

Going into the last race Bare Knuckles took no chances. With Oz Privateer now the only threat to her for the Inshore Championships, she went on the attack and with Adrian Gray steering under the tactical advise of Simon Schofield (aka Skoda) they match raced Oz away from the start line, with both yachts eventually starting 5 minutes behind the fleet. The short legs made for yet another close race, leading to Fat Diva taking her second win and Hi Expectations taking her best result for the series in 2nd. IRC National Champions Firestorm also had their best result with 3rd.

Inshore Championships results: