Cherub Open at Isle of Sheppey Sailing Club
by Jamie Pearson 25 Apr 2016 03:38 PDT
16-17 April 2016
With a few teams arriving Friday night, it was off in to town to try and find a friendly chicken shop, unfortunately it had closed... onwards to the kebab shop. Check on the race course super early - like we should.
Day 1 (wind on and waves up)
Many boats chose to go for small sails as the forecast was set to increase. Some of us were quite envious of Greg and Zara in Madge. Eleanor had to retire due to an unplugged bung.
Race 1: The Peters started and never looked back, Dave Ching and Isaac rounded the top mark and tried to get some speed on then realising they rigged the kite wrong. Robin Jones in Banshee rounded third but crew, Ellie, decided she'd rather be a trawler woman. The shiny beast rounded fourth to then overtake the upturned banshee. EJ who were late for the start was playing catchup all race but managed to get back to 4th on the final run to the finish.
Race 2: This saw Dave an Issac sit out the race to re rig the kite ashore leaving Usagi, Elenor and EJ to battle it out. Usagi got a small lead but was kept honest all the way round with EJ and Elenor swapping posting multiply times on the beat only for EJ to break a gooseneck at the top mark to end that battle. It also saw the traditional banshee being sailed off the course by shiny.
Race 3: Saw all but three Cherubs ashore, Usagi was pacing the line in the fresher breeze, Little Chilli was darting about and the Shiny Beast was capsized drifting towards the pin end for a quick recover and off. That was the plan. All three boats leaped across the line only for Little Chilis jib clew plate to explode, and the Shiny Beasts starboard tiller to be on the post side wrapped around the main sheet and the trap lines. This left the shiny beast in a war of attrition, after sorting out their problems they did a lap, let Usagi pass them hoping for a shorted course. No hooter, so they gave up.
On Saturday night the usual Sheppey entertainment was very good fun with human hungry hippos being one of the highlights of the night.
Day 2 (less wind and less waves)
Most competitors woke up with the usual headache. Except one.
Race 1: Ej rounded first, with little chilli close behind. Leaving Usagi, Banshee, Madge and Shiny playing catch up. EJ, Chilli and Usagi pulled a gap on the chasing pack in the dying breeze with some lead swaps up both the second and third beats as they fought the tide. It ended with Chilli being the right side of a vane of breeze to get the win with Usagi second and Ej third.
The remaining races were abandoned due to dyeing breeze and a ripping tide making it hard for the light Cherubs to get any forward/upwind gains.
Damage list:
- One clew plate
- One gooseneck
- Jamie's stomach