Crouch Yacht Club Burnham Week Warm Up
by Phillip Harbott 25 Aug 2015 00:34 PDT
23 August 2015
Ian Hart and the team on Inn Spirit win the Crouch YC Burnham Week Warm-Up race © Sally Harbott
Sunday saw the Crouch Yacht Club prepare for Burnham Week, with a race that took the fleet right down to Inner Crouch and Holliwell, before going up river to Cliff and Canewdon.
Duncan Haley in Double Trouble, his SJ320 won the start, bearing off down the line on starboard and hardening up on the gun. Ian Hart helming Alan Bartlett's Inn Spirit had to avoid him and was late starting. However, on the foul tide beat, water line length saw Inn Spirit over haul Double Trouble by Priors on the second tack.
The fleet beat right down to Inner Crouch and then had a dead downwind leg to Holliwell, with an shy reaching leg from Holliwell to the mouth of the Roach. The boats rounded Jubilee and fetched out of the Roach and then ran up river to Cliff. The spinnakers were dropped after a gybe at Cliff approaching Bridgemarsh; Inn Spirit managed to then round Glaze in one, but Double Trouble had to tack to make the mark. The boats then raced on up to Canewdon and had to hoist apinnakers quickly after Glaze before dropping to round Canewdon. The racing boats then fetched and reached home.
On the water, Inn Spirit were well ahead of Double Trouble, but this was just three minutes on corrected time. Prize giving followed in the club house after racing, and Ian Hart was presented with the trophy. The Crouch Yacht Club are now looking forward to eight days of racing in Burnham Week and a good social programme ashore in the club house.