Burnham Week 2018 - Day 5
by Sally Harbott 30 Aug 2018 21:44 NZST
25 August - 1 September 2018
Rain and light winds greeted the competitors this morning, the fifth day of Burnham Week. The fickle North Westerly winds were taken into account by the course setters, and the fleets set off down river in torrential rain. Class One headed down to Pinto before rounding Redward and sailing back to Pinto. A second lap saw them head to Ron Pipe and Clarks before going down to Rice and Cole and Crouch, they then sailed for home. Glorious Fools took the bullet, with Flynn Davis helming again today. Double Trouble, Duncan and Beccy Haley's Corby 29, were next on the water followed by Phillip Harbott's Aphrodite 101 Mantra, and Lucy Lee fourth. On corrected time, Glorious Fools owned by Pete Jackson and Digger Harden won by just over 2 minutes from lowest rated in class, Mantra.
Class Five had three boats today, with Grace and Danger enjoying the lighter conditions. The SJ 27, owned by Stephen Gosling and Andrew Courts kept the higher rated Maxi 1000 Eclipse, owned by Clive Cherry and Daryl Mylroie, in their sights and so beat them on corrected time. Ant Law in Tifano, the elegant International Folkboat, were third on the water, but lost out to first placed Grace and Danger by just 36 seconds on corrected time.
Class 6 again had four starters and John Saunders in the highest rated in the fleet again dominated taking another win with Richard Moore in Ophelia second, David Hill's Contessa 32 Spangle third and John Waterhouse in Sanderling fourth.
The Dragon fleet were very keen at the start with the double gun signalling a recall. Quicksilver VI owned by Robert Campbell won with Beauty and the Beast, Peter Marchant, second; 4 were disqualified having been OCS but not returned to clear the line and Page Boy retired.
In the Squib class, another good turnout for the race; Robert Coyle in his boat Humphrey win, with Malcolm Hutchins second in Lady Penelope. Simon Griffin in Brutus took third, which put him into second place overall in the midweek series behind Lady P.
The RCOD class saw a clean sweep by the Waples family, with Corinna (Chris) winning, Cormorant (Justin) second and Corpo Santo (John) third. The RBOD class was again dominated by Mandarin owned and sailed by Will Dallimore, and Stephen Herring in Red Jacket was second, with Martin Smith in Jade third.
Down river, the Hunter 707s had the opening three races of their National Championships hosted this year by the RCYC.
The evening saw the dinghies compete for the John Torrance Memorial Trophy. Three classes started with the large fast handicap fleet going off first, slow handicap second, and the Optimist fleet off last. The fast handicap headed off up to the racing mark near Burnham Yacht Harbour, before heading down to Number 9, and back through the line; the slow handicap class did the same course, with the optimists having a shorter course around West Quay and the line.
The first lap saw the Phantoms and the two Blazes got the best start followed by the 49er and the RS200 owned by Richard Taylor. The 29er started a long way down from the line by the old hard but quickly worked their way up to the middle of the fleet before the first mark. The three fevas and Lasers were tucked in towards the Club out of the strong tide, fetching to the first mark. The Phantom and 49er rounded first, and the leading 200 with the Fireball rounded next, the Fireball had some spinnaker issues which allowed the leading 200, 985, and some others to close the gap. As the race progressed, the two phantoms had close racing with 49er and Blaze 661 sailed by Flynn Davis keeping up near the front. After the first lap for the leaders the wind began to drop away and the PRO shortened the 49er after its second lap, as it took line honours, with Phantom 1464 just 17 seconds behind him. The Phantom 1395 was next, followed by Blaze 661. Jo Tribe in RS200 1152 got through 985 on the leeward mark and came in just 3 minutes behind the leading Blaze, and just ahead of Malcolm Hutchins in Blaze 563. The next few came in after a 9 minute gap as the wind had really shut off. On corrected time, Flynn won with Phantom 1464 of Graham Dale Jones second, and Chris Roberts in his Phantom 1395 third.
In slow handicap, alongside the Tera Pro sailed by Callum Fraser, was a classic 11+ dinghy sailed by Doug Duce and John, and a Mirror sailed by Paul Wiggins and his 6 year old son Charlie. They were approaching the last mark as the PRO shortened them on the water, to give the mirror the win, with the Tera second and 11+ third.
The Optimists were struggling under the decreasing breeze, but all managed to sail a good first lap. Jessica Lacey took the lead, and stayed in front to take the win, with George Hutcheon second and George Cook third.
At prize giving after the delicious Hog roast at the Burnham Sailing Club, Julie Torrance presented the John Torrance shields to Jessica Lacey and to Paul and Charlie Wiggins, and the John Torrance Memorial Trophy to Flynn Davis. Dancing continued well into the evening to the live band.
Full results and pictures at www.burnhamweek.com