Swuzzlebubble wins third Half Ton Classics Cup with a day to spare

by Half-Ton Class Association on 18 Aug 2017 With an enviable scoresheet of mostly first and second places for the series, Phil Plumtree’s Swuzzlebubble won the Euro Car Parks Half Ton Classics Cup at Kinsale, Ireland with just Friday’s eleventh race remaining. A breezy penultimate day ended with a short coastal course in which the British boat placed fifth but was still good enough to confirm the overall win.

Plumtree’s ten race series saw him dominate the 21-strong fleet from the opening race on Monday in spite of an eighth place in race three. However, four races on Tuesday left little room for doubt with all first and second places for the day while the event discard took care of the high score from the opening day.

Another first and second place on Thursday saw Swuzzlebubble start the coastal course with a commanding nine-point advantage. However, the race around the scenic approaches to Kinsale and the finish off the historic Charles Fort carried a 1.5x multiplication factor and several wipe-outs in the heavy conditions at sea saw Plumtrees team place fifth.

Their nearest challengers were second placed David Cullen on Checkmate XV and Nigel Biggs on Checkmate XVIII but both had sixth and fifth places earlier in the day that effectively decided the regatta in Swuzzlebubble’s favour as the former Kiwi classic ended with a three point advantage and a worst race discard of second that allows Plumtree to sit out the Friday’s final due to an unexpected crew personal commitment.

The regatta now returns to what had been suspected all week given Swuzzlebubble’s pre-event favourite status after two previous titles: that the series is a battle for second place.

Cullen’s lead over his Checkmate’s former owner is just 1.5 points and while the Howth Yacht Club skipper equalled Plumtree’s win count for the series so far, a make or break final race could be all the opportunity Biggs needs to push his newly launched Checkmate XVIII ahead of his friend and take the first runner-up place.

As has been the case all week with one day lost to high-winds, the forecast for Friday morning is for near gales but with a possible weather window to allow for an earlier starting-time of 0955 for a one hour windward-leeward course.

Elsewhere in the fleet, Mike and Ritchie Evans’ The Big Picture is assured of fourth overall, ahead of class president Philipe Pilate on General Tapioca. The third host country boat - all three hail from Howth - in the top six has a battle to keep the standing as Jonny Swan holds a slim 0.75 point lead over seventh placed Paul Pullen on Miss Whiplash.

Euro Car Parks Half Ton Classics Cup 2017 (at Kinsale YC, Ireland)

Top six overall standings after Day 4 - ten races (21 entries)

1 Swuzzlebubble Phil Plumtree (UK)
2 Checkmate XV Dave Cullen (Ireland)
3 Checkmate XVIII Nigel Biggs (UK)
4 The Big Picture Michael & Richard Evans (Ireland)
5 General Tapioca Philippe Pilate (Belgium)
6 Harmony Jonny Swan (Ireland)

Provisional Results:

	Series Place	Sail No	Bow No	Boat	Country	Owner	Handicap	Series Points	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4	Race 5	Race 6	Race 7	Race 8	Race 9	Coastal PF1.5
	1	KZ3494	19	Swuzzlebubble	UK	Phil Plumtree	0.975	17.5	1	2	8	1	2	1	2	1	2	7.5
	2	IRL2016	1	Checkmate XV	Ireland	Dave Cullen	0.947	20.5	8	1	5	4	1	6	1	6	1	1.5
	3	GBR66R	2	Checkmate XVIII	UK	Nigel Biggs	0.952	22	4	4	2	2	3	2	10	2	5	3
	4	IRL5522	20	The Big Picture	Ireland	Michael & Richard Evans	0.944	29.5	6	5	1	5	5	3	3	3	8	4.5
	5	BEL7548	7	General Tapioca	Belgium	Philippe Pilatte	0.956	42.5	2	7.5	9	3	11	4	15	5	3	9
	6	IRL1484	9	Harmony	Ireland	Jonny Swan	0.948	57.75	5	7.5	10.5	9	8	8	6	8	4	11.25
	7	GBR5435	12	Miss Whiplash	UK	Paul Pullen	0.954	58.5	3	3	4	10	9	7	11	22	9	13.5
	8	GBR4080T	5	Crakajax	UK	Richard & Ursula Hollis	0.898	68.5	10.5	11	15	13	14	5	5	4	14	6
	9	BEL8500	16	Red Cloud	Belgium	Tom Florizoone	0.949	69.25	10.5	15	13	7	10	10	4	9.5	7	11.25
	10	GBR5694	10	Headhunter	UK	Paul Wayte	0.963	70.5	9	6	3	8	6	11	12	9.5	12	18
	11	IRL8094	11	King One	Ireland	David Kelly & Patrick Boardman	0.952	76	14	9	7	6	15	13	8	7	11	15
	12	GBR2759	13	Per Elisa	UK	Robbie Tregear	0.962	78.5	7	10	6	11	4	15	16	11	10	19.5
	13	GBR6521	21	Trastada	UK	Dan Challis & Roddy Angus	0.958	88	12	13.5	12	12	7	9	14	14	6	16.5
	14	GBR8444	6	Demolition	UK	Mel Sharp	0.929	105.5	18	12	14	22	13	12	7	12	13	22.5
	15	ESP2655	4	Cortagedo	Ireland	George Radley	0.951	116	13	13.5	10.5	15	12	18	13	16	15	24
	16	FRA17416	14	Pivoine	France	Patrick Dijoud	0.896	121	16	16	17	14	17	16	9	13	16	21
	17	FRA9187	15	Rampage	UK	John Hicks	0.961	139.5	15	18	18	16	16	17	19	15	17	25.5
	18	FRA9292	3	Concorde	UK	Francis Marshall	0.965	150	17	17	16	17	18	14	18	22	22	33
	19	BEL5394	8	Fantasy	Belgium	Ian Van Burm	0.942	155	21	19	19	19	19.5	19	17	17	18	27
	20	IRL5530	17	Scorpio	Ireland	Dominic O'Sullivan	0.952	166	20	20	20	18	19.5	20	20	22	22	28.5
	21	GBR5384	18	Superhero	Finland	Toni Stoschek & Janne Tulokas	0.944	184	19	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	33