RCYC Squibs at Southern Championships 1 Oct 2012
Three of the Burnham Squib fleet and two lady Squib crews headed south to the Isle of Wight to compete against 23 Squibs in the South Coast Championships, hosted by the Royal Victoria Yacht Club. Saturday’s forecast was for light easterly breezes and with Sundays forecast looking unsettled, and possibly very windy, a quick amendment was put in have four races on the first day.
The racing was just to the west of Fishbourne, towards Cowes, and after a short postponement the triangle/sausage race got away first time. The Burnham competitors made their presence felt from the beginning with Lady Penelope finishing 2nd behind the Riley’s on Brimstone , with Surprise in 4th place, Chequemate 5th, Mel Titmus crewing on Hussar in 6th and Gina on Firestreak in 19th, having completed the race without a kite halyard.
The second race was another triangle/sausage and this time it was Lady P’s turn to take the win ahead of Brimstone whilst Firestreak were off fixing their halyard.
Race Three changed to a windward/leeward, the shifting wind had dropped and the tide was now heading out to the west. The fleet split on the startline, some heading in shore and others heading out into the Solent. After two laps the race officer shortened course and it was Brimstone’s turn to take the win from Malc and Andy, whilst Sarah and Gina on Firestreak scorched back into the series with a 6th.
Race Four was the same up and down course. The leading boats chose the pin end to start, but the locals all took the inshore route coming out strong from the right. There were quite a few place changes later and after three laps, Lady P took line honours ahead of Brimstone again with another great result for the Firestreak girls in 8th – what a difference a kite halyard makes!
A great day on the water, the sun was out, and at times warm enough to race in tee-shirts. Malc and Andy lead overall with equall first and second places with Brimstone , but winning the last race meant they lead overall and Duncan and Alex were lying third.
Sunday’s forecast turned out to be right and Saturday’s picturesque sunny Solent was replaced with a grey, wet and blustery scene. The race officer came ashore and said it was blowing between 18 & 23 knots. However he thought it was raceable, so apprehensive teams headed out to their bouncing boats, some deciding not to even step on board and headed back to the shelter of the club house, others sitting on their bucking boats apprehensively fiddling nervously with bits of rope waiting for others to make a move. A few big gusts came thorough and the race officer called through abandoning the racing, whoops and cheers were just heard above the whistling rigging.
The abandonment meant the overall result from Saturday’s four races remained the same, so Malc and Andy were South Coast Champions again, ahead of Brimstone with a very happy Duncan and Alex finishing 3rd in Surprise and Ian & Ian finishing 8th in Chequemate, Mel finishing 7th in Hussar and Gina in 15th place.
The only thing left to do was to get the boats out. This was not so easy as the tide had started flooding and the wind built from the east increasing the swell with waves breaking to well over 2m. This made getting onto the boats very tricky and the tow back to the crane just as challenging. However, all the visitors from around the country got back safely, be it all pretty wet and bounced around.
Thank you to everyone at the Royal Vic for a great weekend and all their help launching and recovering the boats.
Next year’s South CoastChampionship is heading further west to Weymouth.
Full results are available via the link in the right hand column.