New Year's Day Pursuit Race at Draycote Water Sailing Club
by Jeremy Atkins 1 Jan 2023 13:51 PST
1 January 2023
With probably the closest finish we have ever had, Draycote's New Year's Day pursuit race was drama to the end. Not even the top two boats knew who had won when they came ashore, and the destination of the Club Championships was also in the balance.
The forecast was for wind, and in the morning it was gusting 24 knots and the windsurfers were out. But the wind started to decline at 12 noon and by the 1.30pm start the gust were a more manageable 16 knots. But the fruity forecast made some choose smaller rigs than they would usually. Notably Greg Irish, who was leading the series, chose to go for an ILCA 6, meaning that this result wouldn't count towards his series tally.
Series second, Will Sunderland in an ILCA 7, now had an opportunity to steal Greg's crown as long as he finished 5th place or higher. But it was younger brother Freddie racing level with Greg in an ILCA 6 who would be Greg's focus of attention for most of the race. Greg's day was not getting better as the wind continued to decline and he would dearly have loved his bigger rig.
Half an hour in, the two Fevas of the Angels and Smiths had what looked to be a good lead. Ben Angel was being crewed by his big sister Felicity, who is a top Feva crew, and her presence in the boat was obviously benefitting them. With ten minutes to go, they had only been overtaken by the ILCA 6s of Greg and Freddie, but then a near capsize on a tack let first one and then a stream of other boats past them.
Meanwhile Greg had established an impressive lead over Freddie and the two of them were a significant distance ahead of the chasing pack. It looked like Greg had the race sewn up with only the Club Championships to be decided. But in the last 20 minutes Freddie slowly closed the gap. With 10 minutes to go it was now only 5 boat lengths between them. Would the old champion survive, or would the young pretender claim the race?
Greg pulled away a bit, Freddie caught up. With about a minute to go, they started on a beat. Greg rounded ahead, but Freddie was immediately behind. Greg tacked on the mark and Freddie continued for a few boat lengths before tacking. At a distance it was impossible to be certain who was ahead. Freddie seemed to be overhauling Greg with his family on the shore getting very excited. The hooter went. Who had won? When they came ashore, neither of them knew - it was that tight.
Behind them, the faster boats, who had seemed so far behind, slowly started overhauling the mass of ILCAs, Aeros and Solos. First to break through was the Flying Fifteen of Jeremy Davy and Martin Huett, out for their first race since August due to surgery, closely followed by the Fireball of evergreen Mike Deane and Paul Disney. And then there was the dash of colour from Millie Irish and Jess Powell's 29er - they were cutting through the fleet fast and ended up third, with Mike & Paul fourth.
But what of Will Sunderland, the only person capable of knocking Greg off the series throne? He was struggling as his downhaul had jammed tight and was acting as a break downwind. He needed 5th but finished 7th, so was one point behind Greg in the series, who took the Club Championship trophy for the fifth time, equalling Mike Deane's record five wins. But, as Greg said at the prize-giving, this would probably be the last time he would take it because the young Draycote sailors (and particularly the Sunderland brothers) were sailing far too fast for him to stay ahead.
And yes, Freddie did take the race - by millimetres - making up for his navigational error which took his Boxing Day pursuit race win away from him. Well done, Freddie, a great way to come back from that disappointment!
New Year's Day Pursuit
1st Freddie Sunderland, ILCA 6
2nd Greg Irish, ILCA 6
3rd Millie Irish & Jess Powell, 29er
4th Mike Deane & Paul Disney, Fireball
5th Sam Byrd, ILCA 7
6th Chris Brown, Solo
Club Championships
1st Greg Irish, ILCA 7
2nd Will Sunderland, ILCA 7
3rd George Sunderland, ILCA 7
4th Chris Larr & Various, RS400
5th Marcellus Pryor, ILCA 7
6th Imogen Green & Felicity Angel, Feva