Chichester Harbour Federation Week – Patience is a virtue!

by Chichester Harbour Federation Week on 13 Aug 2010 Chichester Harbour Federation Week, one of the most popular dinghy regatta weeks, attracting in excess of 400 entries each year. And on day three of the 2010 edition, patience was name of the game for both competitors and race team alike, and it paid off!

The anticipated 8-10 knot south westerly wind for the scheduled 11:30 start did not materialise and competitors had to wait an hour an half until a good breeze of 10 knots filled in on 200 degrees. Course J was quickly set up for both Series one and two, and racing was underway on top of the tide.

Series one had a beat from John’s Folly to the Winner buoy, and boats seemed unsure which was the best course to the windward mark, and virtually all the fleets split up the first beat. The foiling moth of Mike Lennon once again sped around the large course in a little over one hour 20 minutes.

In the Fast Asymmetric fleet the 49er of Johnny C and James Yearsley came in first but just a minute behind them was the Int.14 of Andy and Tom Partington who won on corrected time, with the Musto skiff of Christian Reynolds, in his first outing of the week, securing second on handicap.

In the Medium Asymmetric fleet the conditions clearly suited the 29ers and Phil Walker and John Mather romped home on the water by almost a minute on corrected time from the RS100 sailed by Nick Peters who finished the race in a dead heat with the D-One sailed by Tim Garvin.

In the RS400’s Matt Johnston and Gael Pawson were back on the water after a day off and back to winning ways. Second were Paul and Mark Oakey who now lead overall. The Fast Handicap was dominated again by the Merlins, and it was David and Fiona Sayce leading them home with Simon and Jackie Lytton second.

At the Elite start two boats were early and had to return. One of them was 'Duel' sailed by Greg Lamb, Richard Fitzgerald and James Grant but such was their speed, they sailed through the fleet and earn a well-deserved victory from Roger Vickers and Richard Curtis.

In the Flying Fifteens Roger and Barbara Palmer continued their strong performance to take a third victory and have therefore won the week. Second were the ever improving Shaun Chatworthy and Jo Edwards who found 'the groove' despite sailing over their spinnaker!

Once again the Finns were over eager at the start and they all went early causing another general recall, their second of the week. The black flag came out immediately but they were still all up on the line on the restart.

Like yesterday, the early leader was Simon Pettit once again he was overhauled and came in third after surviving a near capsize scare approaching the finish line. Today’s winner was Michael de Courcy. The Finns now have had three different winners in three races and the week is still wide open for overall victory.

In Series two the RS200s lost two in the black flag start, and Aeron Smith and Alec Henry 1133 (HISC) finally took the gun, being their best result of the week. The Lasers made a clean start and Colin Smith (HISC) secured the week with his third win.

The Medium Handicap saw the 420 of Hugo Sloper and Xander Morrison (ISC) 53871 win on corrected time placing them in the lead overall.

In the Radials an exciting finish gave Dan Mountifield 177474 (HISC) the gun, with only a few seconds separating him from Ben Chrystall, 193786 (DQSC). Anna Prescott and Jess Eales 3818 (Lymington Town) led the fleet and have established a secure lead overall. The Solos however fared less well. Two general recalls, and two black flag restarts with the tide under them, left a smaller fleet with Tim Randall 4893 (HISC) finally taking the gun.

With minimal tidal effect over the west mud, and a light south westerly four to six knots breeze, the Race Officer was able to despatch the Topper, Slow Handicap and Optimist classes on time for the first of their two races.

All classes were given two rounds providing an hour’s race, with the Slow Handicap and Optimists being shortened. The Toppers were again won by Adam Osborne (HISC), the slow handicap by James Eales (RLYC) in his Tera, and the Oppies by Jamie Smith (HISC).

With the breeze strengthening to 12 knots for the second race negating any need to swing the course, The Toppers proved less disciplined than usual and were given a general recall with the restart moving back after the Optimists.

The Slow handicap was away first time, as were the Oppies, although two of the fleet leaders were OCS and did not return. The improved breeze prevented any need to shorten, with Osborne taking his second gun of the day in The Toppers, and Elliot Wells in his Tera 1737 securing his fifth win of the week. The Optimists were won by Clark Rutter 5665 (ESC) giving him overall lead but on equal points with Jamie Smith 5688 (HISC).

To view the results, please click http://www.chifed.org/fedentry10/fedresults10.htm!here.

For more information, please go to: www.chifed.org