Etchells Bedrock Challenge Trophy on the Solent

by Rob Goddard on 8 May 2014 A fleet of 12 Etchells competed in the first classic Etchells Regatta of the year. The Bedrock Challenge Trophy is a 3-day 9-race series for a cup presented by double world champion Stuart Childerley.

But it took a day and a half to get going as high pressure dominated the Solent. On day one the boats were towed out and then towed in again although there was enough breeze to sail, it was unstable and insufficient to race against the tide. It was disappointing, but the Etchells were luckier than the many cross- channel racers who were stuck out at sea that weekend with no breeze - at least the Etchells sailors could retire to port and a comfy bed!

The promised wind forecast for day two failed to materialise by lunch time but just as the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club Race Officer Andrew Millband was about to send the fleet home, a solid looking band of thermal-driven wind appeared in the eastern Solent so at last a race was on. Dick Cowen, Mark Jones and Graham Birkett from the Mersey Fleet aboard loaner boat Palaver quickly took the lead and kept it for the first two legs. Unknown to them in the central Solent the south easterly breeze has to fight the south westerly sea breeze if it develops, and so suddenly on the last beat the right hand side of the course had 40 degree wind shifts and Shaun Frohlich’s Exabyte was ideally positioned to benefit, rounding the top mark four boat lengths ahead of the rest of the fleet; he kept that lead to the finish line.

Day three, Bank Holiday Monday, the fleet all agreed to an hour’s early start, but it transferred itself to the race course; in race 2 almost all boats jumped the first gun for a general recall. On the restart it was Exabyte who showed the fleet a clean pair of heels, headed right and led the race from start to finish followed by Rob Goddard’s Stampede which started on the left and was the last boat on to port which demonstrated the minimal tidal variation at that point of the day.

Another early start for race 3 caused a general recall, but this time Andrew Millband’s generosity had waned; it restarted under a black flag. Goddard starting at the leeward end of the line was out of the starting blocks the fastest and emulated Frohlich in the previous race. He was only troubled near the end of the race by Richard Burrows’s Matatu Dubh who nearly caught Stampede on the final downwind leg. Stampede had to do a last minute gybe to change gates to stay firmly between Matatu Dubh and the finish line for the beat to the finish. A port and starboard incident at the finish line gave Exabyte a fifth, and moved Stephen O’Flaherty’s Fetching down to eighth delayed by a penalty turn.

Race 4 saw David Franks’ Elvis find her fast groove and looked like a runaway winner, but again it was the downwind leg where gains were to be made. Waiting to pounce and deprive Elvis of her first place was Exabyte, taking the advantage just before the bottom mark. Exabyte finished the race first, Elvis second.

The early start meant that the fleet had time for an extra race, and the early leader for race 5 was Robert Elliott sailing Esprit with guest crew appearance from Jonnie Brinkers (JB). It was the downwind leg yet again where places changed, and the wind shadow of the closing pack of four Etchells behind Esprit soon slowed her down allowing Richard Burrows’s Matatu Dubh to slide through into first place, Esprit followed, then Andrew Cooper’s Ice and Stampede; all rounded the bottom mark nose to tail while Exabyte, the series leader, was back in eighth place.

By the finish, however Goddard had moved to third behind Matatu Dubh first and Esprit second and Frohlich’s Exabyte, had moved through the fleet up to fifth, tying her regatta points with Goddard’s Stampede on 13. After count-back Exabyte with Shaun Frohlich, Dave Bedford and Duncan Truswell were the 2014 Bedrock Challenge Trophy winners, with Rob Goddard, Matt Hannaby and Stephen Lines sailing Stampede second, with Richard Burrows, daughter Sam Burrows and James Downer aboard Matatu Dubh took third.

The next major Etchells event is the Royal Yacht Squadron’s Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy on 24th and 25th May 2014.