Micro Class Championship and Gem Nationals at Stour Sailing Club
by Jenny Pavey 21 Oct 2019 05:32 PDT
12-13 October 2019
Close racing at the Micro Worlds © Jenny Pavey
Ten 18ft Micro class boats comprising eight Gems and two Micro 18s, including Kelmar, a visiting boat from the South Coast, gathered at Manningtree's Stour Sailing Club, for this annual two-day event, known in the UK as the Micro Worlds and Gem Nationals.
Micro tonners, the Micro 18 having been designed by Stephen Jones and the Gem by Rob Humphreys, are raced regularly at Manningtree throughout the summer and the club is proud of having what we think is the largest fleet in the country. With a lifting keel and substantial rig, these boats are widely sailed in other parts of Europe and usually raced with a crew of two of three who are often competitive dinghy sailors.
The format for racing on both days was a passage race down the river Stour to Stutton followed by two 2 windward/leeward races and a passage race back up the river to Manningtree. Saturday's racing was held in a very light, patchy south-westerly accompanied by persistent drizzle and called for the sailors' full concentration.
Sunday was a different day with a brisk, gusty southerly, producing some very close, exciting racing with a couple of instances of boats being laid flat on the downwind legs and competitors wishing they'd eaten more Weetabix for breakfast on the upwind ones. A tenth boat joined the nine that had raced on Saturday, but with three retirements during the racing, it was seven tired crews that completed all four of Sunday's races. There were five different race winners over the weekend and much changing of places.
The Micro Worlds result was taken from the four windward/leeward races with one discard and the winner by one point was Muscle, sailed by Ian Pavey & Chris Bannister, with Well Done sailed by Ian Bloomfield and Stef Goodwin second and, only a point behind them 21, sailed by Ed Roberts and Evie Clemance in third.
The Gem Nationals result included all the races over the two days with no discard and was won by Well Done, sailed by Ian Bloomfield & Stef Goodwin, with Virus, sailed by Rheanna Pavey and Andy Pugh in second and Anagram of Meg, sailed by Holly Pavey and Ellie Bates in third.
There was also a trophy for the winner of the passage race series, counting three of the four races, which can't be won by the winner of the Micro Worlds or Gem Nationals, and this was won by Rheanna Pavey and Andy Pugh in Virus, with Urchin, sailed by Will and Edd Harvey/Neil Manning in second.
There are photos and videos from the event on Stour Sailing Club's facebook page and more information about Micro racing at Manningtree on the club's website at www.stoursailingclub.co.uk/micro-racing