Sailing Chandlery Blaze Eastern Championship 2025 at Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Burnham
by Petru Balau & Andy Wilson 21 Apr 16:50 AEST
12-13 April 2025
The weekend started on Friday 11th April with a Blaze training day, organised by the Class Association and supported by RCYC. Ben Harden, the current Blaze National Champion, took the coaching reigns and ran a full day of training both on and off the water.
With this new pre-championship training format, had the weather been blowy the racers could have exhausted themselves before even crossing the start line. However, for once this year, the wind had actually matched the forecast and the Friday had gifted the 11 trainees some fabulous training conditions - perfect for a tacking and gybing drills, as well as practice race starts which - if nothing else - had provided a taste of the heavy tidal flows of the River Crouch. Pleasantly tired, and with heads and bodies full of new skills, the trainees, bolstered by some early racing arrivals, enjoyed a well-earned bistro dinner and quiz night. Charlie Matthews was awarded the 'D**k-of-the-day' pink flamingo pyjamas and race bib for leading the training fleet to the wrong mark in a race exercise - despite being a local.
3 Blaze teams entered the quiz with various levels of success. Let's just say Blaze fleet prowess on-the-water correlated inversely with quiz aptitude!
On the morning of race day 1, 16 boats lined up for the Sailing Chandlery Blaze Eastern Championship. Race Officer, Edwin Buckley, had scheduled three races for Saturday, with the first warning signal just past midday.
With an easterly wind and flooding River Crouch tide, the racing area just east of the RCYC clubhouse was chosen for the field of play. The first race saw 16 year old, Rory Clow, and local sailor, Trevor Bawden, hugging the South shore to escape the worst of the tide, while the rest of the fleet chose the North. Local hotshot and Class Association Chairman, Charlie Matthews, had made an impressive start in defence of his East Coast Champion title, unmissable, in his pink race bib, out in front from the start.
Charlie managed to fend off Alan Harris-Guerrero's repeated attacks to secure the first win, while travelling challenger, Christian Smart, (despite suffering an extended drive from Pembrokeshire due to trailer breakdown the night before - and arriving at 6am), managed to hold off RCYC sailor, Malcolm Hutchings, for third.
Despite the lighter weather, the clean air on the Southern shore helped Trevor into 5th at the finish, while Rory took 6th, ahead of his father, Douglas.
In the second race, Alan had to concede his quite considerable lead when his halyard snapped, handing the win to Charlie. Christian came in second, Sheppey's Russell Wheeler third and Malcolm in fourth. Scottish Londoner Douglas Clow, never far from the top spots, came through in fifth, and Corinthian Keith Gilmour in sixth.
In the last race of the day, Alan and Charlie battled all the way to the finish with Alan finding a superior groove. Christian, still snapping at them both came in third.
Douglas came through in fourth with Trevor holding for fifth ahead of Rory placing an impressive sixth in a borrowed polyester boat.
An unfortunate capsize after the last mark rounding for Malcolm, who, sitting third at the time had dropped all the way to eleventh.
The fleet retired to the club balcony in the warm, sun-blessed evening for fine refreshments, and the call for dinner came for an exquisite, silver-service meal. The pink flamingo award was voted unanimously and presented to a very deserving Andy Wilson, the class' web and marketing coordinator, for a number of "achievements", including trying to sail over the pin end anchor line, while the mark was being streamed into position.
Day 2's racing started with another promising wind and strong tide. Race 4 saw another win for Alan while Christian had held Charlie off for second spot.
The racing was then paused for a shift of the race area further east to the River Roach which, despite the delay was a positive move for racing giving us a much better Blaze-favoured trapezoidal course.
Alan's winning streak continued as he took all three bullets from the day. Charlie and Christian split the remaining podium spots for races 5 and 6, but Charlie had taken just enough from Christian to finish the day and the Championship in bitter sweet second place overall.
Doug Clow finished 4th ahead of local Malcolm Hutchings who's first day capsize had forced him in to 5th overall.
The Blaze prize-giving was a customarily jolly affair, with a hefty spread of prizes provided generously by event sponsor Sailing Chandlery.
1st - Alan Harris-Guererro (Porthpean SC)
2nd - Charlie Matthews (RCYC)
3rd - Christian Smart (Pembrokeshire YC)
4th - Douglas Clow (Island Barn Reservoir SC)
5th - Malcolm Hutchings (RCYC)
1st Polyester boat - Rory Clow (Island Barn Reservoir SC)
1st Youth - Rory Clow (Island Barn Reservoir SC)
1st Lady - Alex Porteous - RCYC
John Abbot Midfleet - Keith Gilmour (RCYC)
Endeavour - Richard Proctor (IOSSC)
Best Capsize - Andy Wilson (Island Barn Reservoir SC) - On the committee boat in the final race.
Furthest travelled - Alan Harris Guererro AND Christian Smart (254 and 252 miles respectively - calculated, by necessity, from their home front doors). Because Christian had such an awful journey we took pity and overlooked the fractional two mile discrepancy.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | Sail Shape | 848 | Alan Harris‑Guerrero | Porthpean SC | 2 | (RET) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 |
| 2nd | Ekajati | 834 | Charlie Matthews | RCYC | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑3 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
| 3rd | Bandit | 868 | Christian Smart | Pembrokeshire YC | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | ‑9 | 2 | 12 |
| 4th | | 777 | Douglas Clow | Island Barn SC | 7 | 5 | 4 | ‑9 | 3 | 4 | 23 |
| 5th | Penny | 854 | Malcolm Hutchings | RCYC/Burnham SC | 4 | 4 | ‑11 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 23 |
| 6th | | 836 | Trevor Bawden | Stone SC | 5 | ‑8 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 26 |
| 7th | Get Higher | 880 | Russell Wheeler | Isle of Sheppey SC | ‑8 | 3 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 27 |
| 8th | | 825 | Keith Gilmour | RCYC | ‑9 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 36 |
| 9th | | 661 | Rory Clow | Island Barn SC | 6 | ‑14 | 6 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 39 |
| 10th | | 874 | Alex Porteous | RCYC | ‑12 | 9 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 52 |
| 11th | Red Rooster | 535 | Richard Procter | Isle of Sheppey SC | ‑14 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 13 | 13 | 60 |
| 12th | | 826 | Adam Edwards | Warsash SC | 13 | 10 | 14 | (DNF) | 12 | 12 | 61 |
| 13th | | 680 | Jason Phelps | RCYC | (OCS) | 13 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 11 | 62 |
| 14th | Leviathan | 811 | Andy Wilson | Island Barn Reservoir SC | 11 | 11 | (RET) | DNF | 8 | 14 | 64 |
| 15th | Vital Spark/Kintsugi | 763 | Peter McFarlane | Burghfield SC | 10 | 15 | 10 | 12 | (DNS) | DNS | 67 |
| 16th | | 883 | Theodore Holmes | Carsington SC | 15 | 7 | (RET) | 14 | DNS | DNS | 76 |
| 17th | | 829 | Kevin Bawden | Stone SC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 100 |
| 17th | | 858 | Nick Bacon | RCYC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 100 |
| 17th | | 788 | Alex Cory | Lee‑on‑the‑Solent SC | (DNC) | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 100 |
The Blaze Class Association wishes to thank Royal Corinthian Yacht Club for their fantastic organisation, venue and hospitality. To Kate Knights for her hand-holding in organising both the training and racing. To race officer Edwin Buckley for his expert negotiating of awkward waters which resulted in challenging but very enjoyable and competitive racing. To Simon Charles, the RCYC chef, for his outstanding provision of the highest quality race fuel for two consecutive nights. And to all the volunteers who helped make the event such a great success. Blaze Class couldn't have asked for more from the weekend.
Also, special thanks to Ben Harden, head coach, for graciously and eloquently imparting his Blaze knowledge during on-the-water and classroom training sessions. And to Petru Balau, our Class videographer (and co-author of this report), for his skill and imagery from the RIB - (absolutely instrumental in our training analysis) and for his expert eye in provision of race event photography.
Full gallery at sports.hub47.com/blaze-east-coast-championship-2025.
And of course, a round of applause and extended thanks to race sponsor Sailing Chandlery (a very reassuring presence for any racing dinghy sailor!) for their Blaze Class support in both provision of Eastern Championship event prizes AND Class Association member discount scheme.
Blaze Class look forward to a full programme of Championship events into spring and summer 2025, featuring the Fire National Championship (sister class to the Blaze) - Paignton - Saturday 10th May and the Blaze National Championship - Pevensey Bay SC - 6th-8th June. Visit www.blaze-sailing.org for more information.