XOD Points Week at Itchenor SC

by Itchenor SC on 24 Jun 2012 X One Design (XOD) Points Week was held at Itchenor Sailing Club from 18th to 22nd June 2012 and attracted 32 XODs out into Chichester Harbour for five days of racing. With all the races scheduled around high water there was scope for race officer Roger Wickens to use most of the Harbour’s racing marks which he did during the week.

On Monday the X's had a relatively short race and such was their anticipation of a competitive race that a black flag was deployed after an initial general recall. This caught out a couple of boats but not the leading contenders. Honours in race one went to former champion Alastair Ashford who was still getting to know Foxglove which he and Rick Neall acquired at the start of the season. Alastair and his wife Jackie flew in from their home in Antigua a couple of days before the series began. They must have felt at home in the Caribbean conditions experienced in the early part of the week.

Tuesday saw a victory for Tina Scott and John Long’s Relaxation who mastered the vagaries of the light airs and strong winds. Colin McKinnon steered Chartreuse into second place ahead of Alastair Shaw in Phoenix. An early leader in the race as a result of a well calculated pin end start on port tack was Nick Davison sailing Vixen. He deservedly won the Dick Hoare Memorial Trophy.

Conditions were at their very best on Wednesday and the fleet was treated to a superb long course encompassing much of the Harbour. Relaxation and Phoenix were again in contention but it was Mark Palmer at the helm of SweetX who sailed the superior race to take the gun after some two and a half hours of close racing.

Thursday saw the change in the weather. The fleet sat becalmed for some time until a gentle zephyr filled in from the south. Enough wind for a short course to be set. The wind increased dramatically to give the fleet some close quarter racing on the short course. Just as quickly as the wind increased, it began to die and had almost disappeared as the last boats crossed the finish line. This fourth race gave the Xs their fourth winner of the week – Astralita in the hands of Michael Martell. Close behind and consolidating their overall positions were Foxglove, Relaxation and Phoenix.

A gale on Friday meant racing was abandoned and therefore the series and the award of the Benson Platter was decided on the best three of the four races run. Foxglove was declared the winner on count back ahead of Relaxation who had the same points with Phoenix just one point behind.

So the Xs not only enjoyed their largest fleet for several years but also the closest fought contest.

Results - Top ten:

Full Itchenor SC website

			Jun 18 Mon		Jun 19 Tue		Jun 20 Wed		Jun 21 Thu		Best 3	Position
174	Foxglove			1		4		6		2	7	1
177	Relaxation			8		1		3		3	7	2
186	Phoenix			3		3		2		4	8	3
91	Astralita			4		15		5		1	10	4
182	Sweet X			6		10		1		5	12	5
75	Delight			2		8		4		7	13	6
171	Chartreuse			7		2		9		6	15	7
169	Perdix			5		7		11		14	23	8
172	Lizz Whizz			9		11		7		33	27	9
192	Felix			14		6		16		11	31	10