Ian Gray wins Dragon East Coast Championship

by Dragon event media on 30 May 2009
The 2009 Dragon East Coast Championship was hosted by the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham-on-Crouch, over the late Spring Bank Holiday weekend; the entry was 20 boats of which five were visitors. It could not have been a better weekend as we were blessed with glorious weather, sunshine and light to medium winds and very competitive racing.

The eight race series was held on windward leeward courses on the River Crouch, from a committee boat that had positioned herself just to East River Roach for those that know the river, and stayed in relatively the same position whole weekend as we enjoyed winds that were predominately from an easterly direction.

It proved to be a very competitive weekend with six different boats taking a winning gun.

On the Saturday four races were held and the first race started in a light force 2. 'Pageboy X' GBR 740, Clive & Graham Page, made the best start and was never headed to the finish. I will mention here that the races finished when the first boat crossed through the finishing gate after 45 minutes has lapsed no matter how many rounds had been completed.

Race 2, and six boats rounded the windward mark together but, as the boats reached the shore to avoid the foul tide, 'Amok' GBR 687, Colin Woodcock, managed to escape the covering effects of the boats behind and went on to win the race by a comfortable margin.

In Race 3, 'Quicksilver IV' GBR 743 Robert Campbell, was the boat to lead away from the line and to hold the position to the finish. By race 4 the wind had increased to the top end of a force 3 and it was also the first race to be won by a visitor 'Nereid' GBR 717, Patrick Gifford.

What the day's racing had proved was how important it was to get a good start, as all that day's winners had led from the word go! After the racing the day's prizegiving was held almost immediately and a raffle draw with some great gifts donated by the sponsors. Later in the evening the competitors enjoyed a bistro dinner followed by live music.

On Sunday we were greeted by 'wall to wall' sunshine with the first race being postponed half an hour to allow the sea breeze to build. Race 5, still started into a foul tide and was lead away by 'Beauty and the Beast' GBR 746, Katie Cole, but she had to eventually give way to 'Scorpio' GBR 586, Ian Gray who went on to win by 50 metres.

Race 6 proved a trick affair with the tide turning mid race. 'Rumours' GBR 708, established a winning position half way through the race, but in the ensuing pack, the positions were changing frequently right up to the finish with 'Hand Of Fortune' GBR 684, Mike Holmes, grabbing second on the last run.

Race 7, possibly proved to be the most competitive race of the weekend with four boats fighting it out all around the course with the lead changing on any error made. 'Biff' GBR 744 Tim Tavinor, sailing in Thomas & Nicola Wilton's new boat, which had only been launched the weekend before, 'Avalanche' GBR 722, Mark & Mandy Wade as well as 'Quicksilver IV' and 'Scorpio' all in the mix, with 'Scorpio' finally making it to the line first.

In the late afternoon ashore the day's prizes were presented and that day's raffle draw made, followed in the evening by the traditional championship dinner. Rob Campbell proposed the toast to the visitors and Patrick Gifford responded on their behalf. Colin 'Woody' Woodcock, the Burnham fleet Class Captain, entertained us with a few words and conducted a bottle raffle.

There was only one race scheduled for Monday, which allowed the visitors plenty of time to crane out their boats and be on their way home in good time. 'Scorpio' went into this race with a 13 point cushion and the championship for her to loose, but the next three boats were separated by only three points. Against the very strong spring tide, but with the strongest breeze of the weekend, 'Quicksilver' made the perfect start at the pin coming in unchallenged from windward, which enabled her to work out a commanding lead, held to the finish and taking second place overall.

It could have been a winning position as 'Scorpio' tacking up the north shore to avoid the tide went aground, but luckily for her she refloated quickly to finish seventh which was still good enough to take the trophy. 'Biff' finished sixth but ahead of 'Hand of Fortune' to secure third overall.

Dragon East Coast Championship

1 586 Scorpio Ian Gray 25pts 13 3 4 2 1 7 1 7
2 743 Quicksilver IV Rob Campbell 29pts 6 4 1 8 7 10 2 1
3 744 Biff Tim Tavinor 37pts 2 15 13 4 6 3 3 6
4 684 Hand of Fortune Mike Holmes 38pts 12 5 6 6 3 2 8 8
5 717 Nereid Patrick Gifford 41pts 14 7 9 1 5 8 9 2
6 708 Rumours Len Jones 43pts 9 9 5 13 10 1 6 3
7 722 Avalanche Mark Wade 45pts 5 11 15 7 8 6 4 4
8 740 Pageboy X Clive Page 51pts 1 8 8 3 4 14 13 14
9 687 Amok Colin Woodcock 52pts 11 1 2 12 9 12 14 5
10 746 Beauty and the Beast Katie Cole 59pts 17 6 11 11 2 9 7 13
11 704 Ganador Martin Makey 61pts 8 10 7 10 14 11 5 10
12 696 Esoteric Rob Sheppard 62ptspts 4 21 3 5 16 4 15 15
13 712 Spindrift Gary Harrison 68 3 2 12 16 15 18 11 9
14 617 Flame Again David Hall 84pts 15 13 19 21 11 5 10 11
15 702 Valanga Teresa Wade 86pts 10 14 14 9 12 15 12 16
16 710 Alcyone Simon Winn 90pts 7 21 10 14 13 16 18 12
17 597 Hat Trick Martyn Fogg 117pts 18 12 17 21 17 19 16 18
18 971 Haihangille Karl Fuehrer 122pts 16 16 16 15 20 20 21 19
19 640 Alecto Charles Cronin 123pts 21 17 18 17 19 13 19 20
20 695 ..Magic. David Andrassy 132pts 21 21 21 21 18 17 17 17

The race committee lead by Edwin Buckley and Kim Allen performed a great task with the courses in such testing conditions of spring tides and light winds and we need to give them a big vote of thanks; also the weekend could not have been the success it was without our sponsors. Therefore again enormous thanks to, first our main sponsor Aberdeen Asset Management, then in no particular order Petticrows, Musto, Harken, Mailspeed, Lonton & Gray, Ragbags, and lastly Yachting Solutions.