Ramsgate Week 2018 - Day 4
by Martin Law 26 Jul 2018 07:16 NZST
22-27 July 2018
The fourth day of Ramsgate Week marked the start of the IRC Spinlock East Coast Area Championships. All classes started from the same offshore line, and all with the exception of Class 7 sailed the same course of roughly 20 NM.
For the start the wind was 8-10 knots from the North with a slightly port end biased line. The boats were first sent on a long upwind leg to the Elbow buoy off Margate. It was a shifty beat and those that we able to properly use the available windshifts came out ahead. Oystercatcher got to the windward mark first, closely followed by Kylla and the class 2 boat Foxy.
On the following downwind leg the wind died a little and with adverse current the winning strategy was to sail high and fast over to the Broadstairs shore-line to hide from the tide before returning to Ramsgate. Those that failed to do this ending up regretting it. Another four mile beat and five mile downwind leg stretched out the race to over six hours for some. A real test of concentration and light wind form.
In IRC 1, Richard Matthew's Oystercatcher came out on top which puts them second in the series so far. Kym and Heather Leatt's Kylla was second pushing them to the top of the leaderboard by two points. Third on the day was Team Heiner putting them third overall also.
IRC2 was again a very close race with the top six boats finishing within six minutes of each other. Winner was Mike and Jo Brand's Foxy followed by Mike Lilwall and Peter Pearson's Buccaneer with Graham Eggleton's Figaro, Black diamond third. This puts Foxy one point ahead in the series followed by Buccaneer and Vanilla third.
Cruiser class 5 was won by Ken Lees Sigma 35, Rush which puts them top of their leaderboard. Roxanne from Rye Harbour Sailing Club was second with Donald Grey's Blown Away third.
In Class 6 there was another win for the Beneteau First 30, Miss Amelia owned by Andy Ketteringham. With three bullets in the series overall this boat will now be hard to beat. Second place went to David Preston in Luna and third to Howard Bates' Mallard.
Class 7 cruisers sailed a shorter course today and the race was won by Susan Anderson from Margate Yacht Club in her Gibsea 262, Impulse. Andy Renshaw's Impala, Wild Rover, came second giving them a lead in the series, and Bernard Sealy's Westwind 38, Karibia Breezes, was third.
All results are at www.ramsgateweek.com