Etchells Spring Series - Victory for Exabyte crew

by Rob Goddard on 1 May 2014 While the weather forecast seems to have kept some teams away, a total of sixteen Etchells raced in at least one of the two Cowes Solent Spring Series weekends.

After winning the first of these weekends Shaun Frohlich’s Exabyte, with stalwart crew of David Bedford and Duncan Truswell, scored two firsts, two seconds and a third to be crowned Etchells Spring Series Champion of 2014.

Saturday’s start was slightly delayed as Race Officer Andrew Millband from Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club waited for the gusty breeze of up to 30 knots to settle down. Once the isolated front went through, and the wind abated to 20 knots, racing started in south-westerlies. Saturday’s four races were set in the tidal shelter of the Bramble Bank with Frohlich’s Exabyte and Ante Razmilovic’s Swedish Blue each winning two races.

Aboard Rob Goddard’s Stampede the policy of always wearing buoyancy aids was vindicated as Nigel Wakefield, sailing his first ever Etchells race and hiking extra hard, fell overboard. Fortunately America’s Cup coach and new Cowes resident, Andrew (Dog) Palfrey, was on his coach boat and rescued him. Despite it’s being a sunny day, the cold 12° water temperature meant that Stampede headed back to Cowes for an early warm bath for their frozen crew. It was instructive to discover that despite wearing a life jacket it was very difficult to haul him back into the rib wearing all his wet clothes, let alone trying to recover him into an Etchells.

Sunday’s forecast of continuous rain fortunately did not materialize. South-easterly breezes that topped out at 15 knots gave a great day’s racing. The Race Officer did well to avoid the race tracks of the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s Cumberland Cup and Warsash Spring Series, but at the cost of being forced to set a left-hand biased tidal course along the Hill Head shore.

Sunday’s first race was won by Robert Elliott sailing Esprit, as new owner Julian Metherell was unable to sail. This was Elliot’s first outing in the Solent while waiting for his new Etchells to be built by David Heritage Racing Yachts who has orders for four new boats already this year.

Sunday’s second race saw Razmilovic from the left lead the fleet, while Nick Stagg’s China White coming from the right hand side of the course finished second. Jonty Cook and his team of young keel boat sailors were close behind, but a shy lay line and a strong tide meant that their third place quickly turned into last as they did their turns after touching the windward mark.

Race three saw David Franks’ Elvis head right early in the first beat and lead around the first mark five boat lengths ahead of Goddard’s Stampede and Frohlich’s Exabyte, and those two fought together for second place until the Warsash Spring Series fleet sailed through the Etchells fleet on starboard giving Exabyte the edge before Goddard was sailed off the course by a Warsash Class 1 boat who sailed between the Etchells windward and spreader marks thereby pushing Stampede back to last place as the closely chasing Etchells pack rounded the top mark cleanly inside Stampede.

Strong winds and big tides always make a Race Officer’s job difficult, but adding a congested race track makes it almost impossible. But the smiles in the club house afterwards were a sign that yet again great one-design racing was had by the Cowes Etchells fleet and thanks for that goes to Andrew Millband and his group of tireless helpers from Cowes Combined Yacht Club.

The Etchells Spring series saw not only Cowes sailors but also International visitors: James (Seamus) McHugh from Switzerland with Andy Beadsworth and Simon Fry (Stirfry), Stephen O'Flaherty and his crew from Dublin sailing Fetching, and ex Cowes Sailor Anthony Shanks now living in Ireland, sailing with Cowes fleet member Nick Stagg aboard China White.

Next weekend for all three days the fleet will race for the prestigious Bedrock Challenge Trophy for which we expect even more entrants. The day starts at 8.00 AM at the RLYC for a two hour rules clinic and breakfast before racings first start at 12.30. On Saturday night, May 3rd, David Franks Cowes Fleet Captain and Patsy Franks are hosting a party at 1930 (drinks and buffet) at their house for the fleet and the CCYC team.

Overall results are available on the 'Cowes Etchells Racing' facebook page.