RCIYC Spring Regatta - Superb sailing conditions

by William Harris on 23 May 2013 The Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club’s annual Spring Regatta, held in St Aubin’s Bay, was blessed with superb sailing conditions over the weekend of 18 and 19th May. Blazing sunshine with a force four to five northerly breeze on Saturday was followed by densely overcast skies, poor visibility and fairly continuous light rain on Sunday but … the breeze was still there, albeit a little lighter and the sea a little calmer.

Over fifty boats came to the starting line for what was to prove to be a very successful event all round, both from a racing point of view and socially, Saturday rounding off with a barbecue and Sunday with the prize giving in the RCIYC clubhouse.

As ever, the mixed fleet was split between two race committee boats with one looking after the cruiser classes and F18 sport-catamaran class to the south of the Bay (committee boat A – RO Rodney Waller) whilst the other (committee boat B – RO Tony Eggleston) occupied itself with the dayboat, open sport-catamaran and dinghy classes well within the Bay.

The weekend’s programme scheduled two races back-to-back for the cruiser and dayboat classes on both days whilst all others were to sail three races back-to-back, all over olympic-type courses.

Steve Pearl’s X79, Less Xpense, proved to be the overall winner in the combined cruiser class, having won three of the four races, discarding one race in which she came second. Ben Rogers and Dave Howell’s Conrad 760, Tom Bombadil, had a good showing on Saturday, chalking up two second places but did not sail on Sunday. Rhys Perkins & partners’ Archambault 35, Abracadabra, with one win to her credit was second overall whilst Julian Barber’s Farr 727, Super Q, on equal points was third on countback.

Ben Jones’ Cornish Coble, Baloo, took the honours in the demonstrably graceful Dayboat class, with three wins to her credit, discarding a second place. Mike Harrison’s La Rocque OD, Jigsaw with one win and three seconds was second overall whilst Malcolm Annan’s Oysterman, Jamesina, came third.

By way of sharp contrast, the eight-strong Formula 18 sport-catamaran class provided a somewhat different interpretation of ‘grace’, particularly in Saturday’s stronger breezes. Conditions were truly ideal for these impressive boats with crews clearly enjoying the keen competition. Darren Stower and David Carter sailing the Hobie Wildcat Smurf, with three wins, two seconds and a third in the bag were overall winners. Adrian Jesson and Bruce Steedman’ s Hobie Tiger, Hobie 45, was a close second whilst Guernsey visitors, Benn Garnham and Jamie Hamilton’s Tiger, Poker Face, was third.

With four wins to her credit, Gordon Burgis and Ken Snell’s Hobie 16, Pure Energy, was a clear winner in the open sport-catamaran class with a close result giving Stuart McCue’s Hobie 16, Salty Bean, second place over Peter Graham’s 16, Catalyst, on countback.

Tom and Gemma Newman won all three races on Saturday, sufficient to put them in the top spot in the junior open sport-catamaran class. Emma Graham and Chloe Swetenham were a close second, having won all three races on Sunday, whilst Ollie Voak and Elsa Swetenham were third. All were sailing Hobie Dragoons.

With three wins on Sunday Justin Horton’s Streaker, Stormbird, just pipped Rosie and Mark Lamy’s RS200, Twinkletoes, to be the overall winner in the senior open dinghy class, the RS having won two races on Saturday. Lydia Carter’s Laser Radial, Low Fly, was third.

Elana St George notched up five wins over the weekend, sailing Shrimp, in the junior dinghy class, having discarded a second place. Henry Horton, sailing Little Dipper was a close second his results including an equal first with Elana in Saturday’s second race. Third place overall went to Tom Pollard sailing Funki Fly. All three boats were Optimists. Felix Carnegie’s Sea Saw was the first Topper, taking fourth place overall.

The prize-giving was held in the RCIYC clubhouse on Sunday evening when Commodore Sandra Carroll presented the place prizes for both days. The Commodore thanked both Jersey Post and Jersey Marinas for the much-valued support they had provided to the event. The Spring Regatta trophies will be awarded at the next RCIYC Annual Prize giving in February 2014.

The full results are available here

A diary note: The UBS Jersey Regatta is being held over 13-15th September and welcomes visiting boats. The Notice of Race is available on here

Overall results:

Cruisers (IRC)

1 Less Xpense – Steve Pearl (third)
2 Abracadabra – Rhys Perkins (10)
3 Super Q – Julian Barber (10)

Dayboats

1 Baloo – Ben Jones (third)
2 Jigsaw – Mike Harrison (fifth)
3 Jamesina – Malcolm Annan (ninth)

Formula 18 Sport-catamarans

1 Smurf – Darren Stower (seventh)
2 Hobie 45 – Adrian Jesson (ninth)
3 Poker Face – Benn Garnham (13)

Open Sport-catamarans

1 Pure Energy – Gordon Burgis (sixth)
2 Salty Bean – Stuart McCue (14)
3 Catalyst – Peter Graham (14)

Junior Sport-catamarans

1 Dragoon 1078 – Tom Newman (eithth)
2 Dragoon 1076 – Emma Graham (ninth)
3 Dragoon 1034 – Ollie Voak (16)

Open Dinghies

1 Stormbird – Justin Horton (sixth)
2 Twinkletoes – Mark Lamy (eighth)
3 Low Fly – Lydia Carter (14)

Junior Dinghies

1 Shrimp- Elana St George (fifth)
2 Little Dipper – Henry Horton (eighth)
3 Funki Fly – Tom Pollard (17)