Cherub Inland Championship at Poole Yacht Club

Dan's Boat wins the Cherub Inlands at Poole © Mike Millard

Well yes we know Inlands are not technically meant to be salty but the top triangle of Poole Harbour is as surrounded by land and as shift and gusty as many an inland venue... and it gave us what all fleets want which is a number of boats in contention for the overall win going into the final race.

The first day was champagne sailing from one of the plushest clubs visited by the Cherubs in 2017. With a start at 14:30 there was plenty of time for the fleet to gorge out on lunch whilst relaxing on the club balcony. Sharing the first day with the club racing made for a couple of interesting tweaks to our usual windward/leeward course with a fixed start line and a different finish line that was almost into the wind. A cloudless blue sky, F3-4 and pleasantly warm, even some idiot throwing a flammable substance onto the M3 couldn't spoil the day.

Usagi during the Cherub Inlands at Poole - photo © Mike Millard

The Peters in Usagi took an early lead around the distant Windward mark only to gybe off into oblivion letting others with more local know how bang the opposite corner and lead towards the leeward mark. The race was won by Alex Harris and Alex Everest in A&E in Alex's newly purchased foiling cherub. Perhaps Alex should rename it Binary Machine as it either flies off into a massive lead as it did in both Saturday races or it is nowhere, a real all or nothing machine. Luke Hartley and Oliver Morrell in Dan's Boat showed good speed to run 2nd in both races spoilt only by some issues with the finishing line – forgetting to go through it in R1 (but we forgave them) and not accounting for the bias in race 2 to let Usagi pip them. Long term absentee Phil Kirk (something about double handing the Fastnet and having kids – not at the same time I believe) showed he wasn't too ring rusty with a 4th and 5th.

Chillie during the Cherub Inlands at Poole - photo © Mike Millard

On Sunday it was just us Cherubs and our trusty companions the 4000's on our own course with a committee boat start. 3 back to back races which confirmed the binary nature of the foiler. Races 1 and 3 were held in patchy winds allowing intermittent foiling with A&E a long way back. Race 2 had enough wind for consistent foiling and they were almost a leg ahead. For everyone else there was close racing throughout the fleet with numerous place changes as the wind shifted and gusted. Consistency pays though and Usagi and Dan's Boat were the best of non-foiling variety though E-Numbers posted a 2nd showing extremely good downwind pace and local heroes Dave Ching and Hayley Trim stuck in a couple of solid 3rd places.

A&E during the Cherub Inlands at Poole - photo © Mike Millard

Going into the last race A&E was in the box seat, they had to finish worse than 5th and Usagi and Dan's Boat had to win the race to win overall. The capricious wind died down and suddenly the foiling cruise to victory looked shaky. Dans Boat took an early lead with Usagi rounding in 4th, A&E was a long way back. Usagi fought their way up to 2nd by the top of the final run and within 100 meters of Dan's Boat. In a win or bust move Usagi headed to the far corner in an attempt to sail around Luke and Oliver however it wasn't to be and Dan's Boat crossed the line first to win the race and the Inland Championships, as in crossing the line Dan's Boat also lapped A&E.

The foiler is clearly significantly quicker when up but thankfully the British weather means their victory is not inevitable. So far the tortoises have beaten the hare but one day soon...

Thanks to Poole YC for their hospitality and allowing a bunch of weird carbon machines into their well-ordered cruiserly world and e special thanks to Dave Ching for making the event happen. Don't sell Dave, you know you don't want to...

Overall Results: