Fairleigh Hospice Regatta
By admin. Filed in Race reports |
The report on ~ The Fairleigh Hospice Regatta at Burnham on Crouch.
How often do you a get two mile long flat out planing reaches on flat water? Once again the Crouch turned on the wind and sun for the annual pilgrimage to the Royal Corinthian at Burnham on Crouch. We started on the club line with the Dragons on a flat out three sail reach downriver, by the time we reached the first turning mark they must have been almost half a mile behind. The next leg saw a hard beat against the tide up the Roach and then another fast reach / run back to the Crouch during which the flying fifteens were rarely more than a few boat lengths apart. On this leg we had a chance to catch and test our speed against the Hunter 707s who had started five minutes in front, and then sailed past the squibs too. At the finish Justin and Amanda Waples prevailed over Pip and Alice Hudson.
The next race saw a committee boat start and a beat to the specially laid mark before another fast run. Justin stormed off only to not notice the laid mark and thus Pip was able to build a large lead, so large in fact the he was unable to find the penultimate mark (something about it wasn’t where it was shown on the chart) before local knowledge may have helped,and Justin took the advantage and led home once again.
The Club was full with 85 for dinner, and more coming in for the dancing later, so when…….
Sunday dawned with a little less wind ( a few were quite grateful ). It looked like it would be a much closer race with the Dragons and so it proved to be. A long run of about four miles saw the Fifteens and Dragons neck and neck, at the mark there was only a couple of boat lengths in it. Sue Bannister was the first to tack for the shore and hit slacker water. This was to prove decisive and Sue crewed by Gayson Eacott went on to a well deserved win, but not without worry, having chosen the slower south shore on the last leg home, nearly leaving the door open for Justin to sneak in from the North shore at the finish!
The wind had picked up for the final race during which the Fifteens were within a few boat lengths of each other for most of the race. This time the long beat back to the club line against the tide allowed the Dragons to show their mettle and both fleets finished within a couple of minutes after one and a half hours of racing.Finishing Justin, Pip and Sue. ( apparantly Sue and Grayson would have left everyone for dust, except they were caught by the Burnham mud cutting a corner at the critical point ! )
As someone was heard saying “it was great to have sailed at BOC”
Who won you ask ? ~ well does it matter when you can have a cracking two days competitive sailing, and be part of a regatta that raised over £2,500 for the local Hospice.
report contributors : Pip/Sue/Justin