Vernon Dawson race, Saturday 2nd August

The sailing this weekend was the annual competition between Whitby and Scarborough yacht clubs for the Vernon Dawson Cup. It is sailed over a course from Scarborough back to Whitby. Ten boats prepositioned themselves down to Scarborough on the Friday and crews were up good and early on the Saturday to ready their boats for the return passage.

With forecasts of heavy rain and strong winds later in the day, the actual weather was very pleasant with a gentle easterly wind, but rain could be seen in the distance. With a long distance to sail, the start wasn’t closely contested, but Whitby boats led by Icon and Cold Steel were well to the fore at the first turning mark in the south of the bay. The boats then came hard on the wind to beat to the Wheatcroft Buoy, their final turning point in Scarborough South Bay. This windward sail caused the fleet to spread out and the SYC boats, Nemo followed by Ruffian were first to make the mark, but Icon and Cold steel were snapping at their heels. With the wind now behind them, the bay burst in to colour as the majority of the boats popped their spinnakers.

This change of direction was to determine the outcome of the race. The lead boats would continue to lead and even extend the lead, but these faster boats had a lot of handicap to overcome and the trailing boats had now picked up speed and were not losing much ground. The wind picked up and boats rolled wildly, but still had fast speed and there was just one short spell of rain. They arrived at the Whitby bell buoy, Nemo well in the lead, followed by Ruffian and the three Sigma 33s, Icon, Cold Steel and Revenge who were tied in a close struggle which would continue to the finish line, so close that the Race Officer had to declare Icon and Revenge as a dead heat. It then became obvious that the winner would come from the back as the fleet streamed across the line in a very short time. 

Overall Winner – Serenade of Parkstone

Result: Class 1 1^st Ruffian Pete MacIntire, SYC, 2^nd Samaki, Nigel Robinson, WYC, 3^rd Icon, Neil & Lorraine Williamson, WYC & Revenge, Alan Smith, SYC. 

Class 2 1^st Serenade of Parkstone, Chris Hamlett & Les Franks, WYC, 2^nd BOB, Andy Martland & Bill Uppington, WYC, 3^rd Teemane, Mike & Marilyn Dixon, WYC. 

Sailing, 12th - 13th July (RNLI Trophy and Summer 5)

As visitors to Whitby basked in glorious sunshine ashore, 7 boats ventured out to sea to compete in the RNLI trophy in their support for the Lifeboat weekend. They were greeted by a fresh easterly wind which was bringing in fog banks spasmodically. On occasions, visibility was quite poor making it impossible to start the race so the boats waited in hope of clearer visibility. After 20 minutes, a clear patch materialised and the Race Officer got the boats away.

A close tussle occurred at the first turning mark off the pier ends before the boats turned downwind to head for Sandsend. Those that could, sported spinnakers, but the colourful sight wouldn’t be appreciated from the shore as the boats disappeared in to the fog again. Helmsmen got their heads down on to their instruments in order to find the small buoy off Sandsend, over a mile away. Icon led the fleet with the bigger Déjà Vu snapping at her heels. Samaki was having a close tussle with Skywalker and Monsoon had some space to herself. No Compromise was getting down to gaining her usual position at the head of the fleet after completing penalty turns and Serenade of Parkstone brought up the rear.

With the benefit of GPS, the fleet found the buoy, dropped their spinnakers and headed for the inshore Sandsend buoy before turning in to the wind to get back to the start/finish line. Most boats headed out to sea to take advantage of the flooding tide. Instruments were resorted to again as the beach disappeared in to the fog. Déjà Vu overtook Icon and No Compromise was only slowly clawing back her lost ground. Samaki broke Skywalker’s hold on her and Monsoon enjoyed the fresh beat. The Race Officer decided the game of hide and seek in the fog had to come to an end and finished the race at the end of the first lap with Déjà Vu leading the boats in, but the handicap would re-arrange the order. 

Result: 1^st Icon, Neil & Lorraine Williamson, 2^nd Skywalker, Pete Brown, 3^rd Samaki, Nigel Robinson

With torrential rain drumming down throughout Sunday morning, prospects for racing and the Blessing of the Boats looked decidedly dismal and only three boats were bold enough to face it. By the time they passed through the bridge, the rain had stopped and a fresh westerly provided good sailing conditions. The boats were committed to a short race in order to return for the Blessing and Icon led the fleet away with Samaki and Double D following. The order remained the same throughout and the positions were unchanged by application of the handicap. 

Result: Class A, 1^st Icon, Class B 1^st Samaki, 2^nd Double D, Dave Broughton

Sailing, 14th - 15th of June (RIVA Cup 1&2)

During the sailing season, racing members of the Yacht Club compete for the prestigious trophy, the Riva cup, in a series of four passage races up or down the coast. This weekend, saw boats compete in the first two races which would take the boats to, and back from, Scarborough. Nine boats came out in to a moderate northerly wind, but also an uncomfortable rolling sea. The fleet got away after a competitive start to see Déjà Vu powering ahead to complete a short lap of the bay before heading south east down to Scarborough. She was chased by No Compromise and the remainder of the boats. At the bell buoy, the course was downwind and those that could, hoisted their spinnakers and this was to be the turning point of the race. The extra power provided by the spinnakers allowed these boats just enough extra speed to overcome the fierce, ebbing, spring tide whilst those unable to fly spinnakers struggled and dropped back. Déjà Vu was one who couldn’t fly a spinnaker and was rapidly passed by No Compromise, Icon and Cold Steel and eventually Samaki, Qantro and Mint Imperial (once she’d sorted her unorthodox method of hoisting her spinnaker!) The lead three, No Compromise, Icon and Cold Steel swapped places at the front as they passed the High Light, Robin Hood’s Bay and entered the North Bay at Scarborough. But here they made their big mistake of keeping close in and the boats that stayed further offshore, Samaki, Qantro and Mint Imperial fared better with Samaki eventually taking the lead. Unaccustomed to this lead position, Samaki had trouble at finding our  neighbour club’s finish line and nearly threw away the honour of crossing the line first, but just in time, she corrected her errors and crossed just in front of Icon, followed by No Compromise. 

Result: 1^st Samaki, Nigel Robinson, 2^nd Icon, Neil & Lorraine Williamson, 3^rd Qantro, Nathaniel Drake.

After a good night celebrating or drowning sorrows, the fleet came out to the Scarborough start line. By now, with the moderate northerly wind continuing, the seas had built up and made progress against these large rollers quite difficult, but at least the strong tide was with them this time. Scarborough Yacht Club kindly offered Whitby a starting sequence and got the fleet away at 9am. With larger seas in Scarborough South Bay and wind being distorted by the ever present Scarborough Castle, progress was slow, but once away from the coastal influences, speeds picked up. The fleet split in to two with Déjà Vu, No Compromise and Samaki choosing to sail that bit closer to the wind, but at a slower speed and the remainder, led by Icon, Cold Steel and Monsoon getting a bit more power in to their sails and heading a bit further offshore, but sailing a longer course. The proof of who was right would occur when the offshore group tacked in to head a bit closer to the course to the bell buoy and when this point occurred, Déjà Vu and No Compromise were dots on the horizon and Icon, Cold Steel, Monsoon and the remainder of the fleet passed behind Samaki proving that the inshore group had fared better. Déjà Vu and No Compromise held a good lead as they passed the bell buoy and turned towards the pier ends for their penultimate turning mark, before turning west to complete the course. Icon managed to creep past Samaki, but the leading class B boat managed to keep herself in front of the remaining class A boats, Cold Steel, Monsoon and Qantro and all the boats had completed the course in under 4 hours, excellent time for an 18 mile course against a moderate wind and long, rolling sea. 

Result: 1^st No Compromise, Derek Frank, 2^nd Samaki, 3^rd Icon

Sailing, 7th & 8th of June

Saturday, 7^th June

With thunderstorms and strong winds forecast only 5 boats came out to compete in the second race in the Summer series on Saturday. Believing the forecast would materialize, most  boats wore smaller sails than absolutely necessary. All 5 boats made competitive starts heading towards the pier marker and the order No Compromise, Icon, Samaki, Cold Steel and Masquerade was established, but Cold Steel and Masquerade overtook Samaki. At the bell buoy, Cold Steel and Masquerade took wide turns, allowing Samaki to regain her third position. The fleet then turned for Sandsend on a run with No Compromise and Icon popping their spinnakers quickly with Samaki and Cold Steel a little tardier, but making up good ground once they filled. The order remained the same at Sandsend when spinnakers were dropped to start the beat against the wind back to the finishing line. Those that took the offshore route faired better with the aid of the flood tide and a reduction of wind under the cliffs, but the order was maintained as No Compromise led in Icon, Samaki, Cold steel and Masquerade, but the handicap would reverse the first two. 

Result: Class A – 1^st Icon, Neil & Lorraine Williamson, 2^nd No Compromise, Derek Frank, 3^rd Cold steel, Nigel Jarvis. Class B – 1^st Samaki, Nigel Robinson, 2^nd Masquerade, David Miller.

Sunday, 8^th June

Two more boats were tempted out to continue the pursuit series of races held on the Sunday, making the fleet number 7. In these races, the theoretically slower boats set off first and the faster ones set off last and it is their position on the water at the end of the allotted time that determines the result. Serenade of Parkstone led the fleet off, and there was a wait of 11 minutes for Masquerade to follow. Samaki and Cold Steel followed on several minutes later and the hares, Icon, Déjà Vu and No Compromise set off 30 minutes after Serenade. Unusually, there was little overtaking in the first half of the race. However, No Compromise suffered a serious injury on one of her crew and was forced to retire to seek medical assistance. Eventually Cold Steel overtook Samaki and then the seriously fast Déjà Vu made her way through the fleet forging from last to almost first, but nobody could catch the initial tortoise, Serenade of Parkstone. 

Result: 1^st Serenade of Parkstone, Chris Hamlett & Les Franks, 2^nd Déjà Vu, Gerry Firth, 3^rd Masquerade.

Pursuit 3: Saturday 24th May 2014

Prospects of sailing had looked extremely ominous on the Friday as rain poured down and the fresh north-easterly built up quite a big sea in the harbour entrance, but, thankfully the wind had calmed down by Saturday morning, but there still remained a long, rolling swell which would test quite a few stomachs when the boats came out. Seven yachts came out to compete in the third race of the Pursuit series where the slower boats set off first and eventually the greyhounds are released and headed off to devour the leading boats, like Pacman!

Serenade of Parkstone got procedures underway  followed a minute later by Double D and a little later by Masquerade. After a brief spell, Samaki was released and then the greyhounds had a lengthy wait before Icon, Antix and No Compromise were released almost half an hour after the lead boat. These three quickly picked up the chase in the order Antix, No Compromise and Icon, but the lead three, Serenade, Masquerade and Double D, got sucked towards Whitby rocks with stronger tide and a bigger rolling sea, allowing Samaki to inflict the first casualty as she overtook Double D and was hot on the tails of Serenade and Masquerade. 

The long, rolling, run against the tide commenced as the boats headed for Sandsend and Samaki gained the better over Serenade and Masquerade, before they turned for the beat against the wind back to the Bell Buoy. Samaki enjoyed her lead for over half an hour but could see the charging greyhounds eating away her lead as they charged past Double D, Serenade and Masquerade and was under no illusion that she would be in the front when time ran out. At the end of the first lap, the two hours of racing was almost used up, the boats were well bunched up around the starting line and Antix and then No Compromise passed the long time leader, Samaki, and the handicapping proved extremely effective with the rest of the fleet very close together. 

Result:  1^st Antix, John Allen, 2^nd No Compromise, Derek Frank, 3^rd Samaki, Nigel Robinson

10/11 May - P2 and Sp4

A brisk downpour as the boats waited for the bridge did not deter the six boats who were coming out of the harbour to compete in the second of the series of pursuit races. The theoretically slower boats set off first and the faster boats set off last. Double D got the race started followed by Samaki and then Cold Steel was a minute behind. The faster boats, Icon, Antix and No Compromise followed almost half an hour after the first boats. The first boat to be overtaken was Double D as she struggled with the gusting southerly wind and Samaki and Cold Steel took advantage of her difficulties. Samaki just retained the lead as the leaders turned out to sea at Sandsend, but Cold Steel quickly powered past. The faster boats were having a close tussle with No Compromise just holding off Antix and Icon was in the unusual position of bringing up the rear, but they all rapidly passed the still struggling Double D. This order was maintained to the finish, but as the time ran out, No Compromise and Antix were both breathing down Samaki’s neck.

 Result: 1^st Cold Steel, Nigel Jarvis, 2^nd Samaki, Nigel Robinson, 3^rd No Compromise, Derek Frank.

The soaking the day before did little to encourage the boats out to face a similar weather forecast, but, thankfully, the met man got it wrong and there was no rain, but equally, there was little wind, and what there was from the north and built up an onshore swell. Only four boats risked the soaking, which didn’t materialise, and headed for the first turning mark positioned off Upgang. All boats had a competitive start, and quickly settled in to the expected order, Antix, Icon, Samaki and Skywalker. These boats clawed their way along the shoreline avoiding the still flooding tide and turned to go offshore to round the Upgang mark, but all underestimated the strong tide and had overestimated their expected sailing speed which was greatly diminished as the northerly swell held them back. They all had to put in further tacks out in the strong tide, but eventually managed to round the first mark before turning for the bell buoy. With the tide now with them and spinnakers hoisted, progress improved. The spinnakers were gybed at the buoy for a fine reach to the harbour entrance, but the wind swung and made spinnakers impossible and boats struggled to get their spinnakers down, particularly Skywalker. The Race Officer sent the fleet round for a further lap as the wind increased to a fresh force 4 and the fleet came home with foaming bow waves in the order Antix, Icon, Samaki and Skywalker, but the handicap would reverse the result for Class B.

Result: Class A. 1^st Antix, John Allen, 2^nd Icon, Neil & Lorraine Williamson.

Class B. 1^st Skywalker, Peter Brown, 2^nd Samaki.

Sailing 2nd - 5th of May

It was a busy weekend for the sailors of Whitby. Not only was it a Bank Holiday Weekend, but the state of the tides determined that the first of Midweek series of races could be conducted on the Friday. There was a moderate wind from the north for this race and 6 boats were keen to compete. A close start saw Icon with Cold Steel and Samaki not far behind. Déjà Vu had the door closed on her at the start mark and was forced to circle round leaving her with a large distance to catch up. Teemane and Double D made more timid starts. The fleet headed for Sandsend with Déjà Vu getting in to her stride and eventually getting to her rightful place at the front. The leading four, Déjà Vu, Icon, Cold Steel and Samaki headed for a mark just short of the Bell Buoy. However, navigation skills were a little rusty as 3 of the boats headed for the wrong mark and once they determined which the correct mark was, they misjudged the headings required, so Cold Steel, Samaki and Icon rounded the third mark in close formation, with Déjà Vu well ahead. The race was restricted to one lap and Déjà Vu led the fleet in with the next three, Cold Steel, Icon & Samaki finishing within 10 seconds of each other, but the handicap would turn the result around. Result: 1^st, Samaki, Nigel Robinson, 2^nd Cold Steel, Nigel Jarvis, 3^rd Icon, Neil & Lorraine Williamson.

The wind had disappeared on the Saturday and the race was postponed, but within 15 minutes, a gentle wind materialised allowing six boats to compete for the Stewart Perkins Cup. A light wind course was selected. No Compromise soon adopted her usual position at the front with Antix, Icon & Cold Steel forming the chasing fleet. No Compromise maintained her lead throughout, but Antix and Icon had a close tussle, with Icon having her nose in front at the end. Result: 1^st, Icon, 2^nd, Antix, John Allen, 3^rd Cold Steel.

Sunday started with a steady drizzle, dampening some of the boats enthusiasm to go to sea. Five boats did go out and were rewarded with the drizzle being turned off and splendid sailing conditions materialised. Icon timed her start nicely and led Cold steel, Antix and No Compromise, with Skywalker, the only Class B boat having her own race. At the first mark, just Antix and Icon popped their spinnakers for the short run out to sea before beating back to the coast where Antix passed Icon. The next leg took the fleet out to sea again, before another beat back in to Sandsend bay where No Compromise also passed Icon. The order was maintained for the remainder of the race, although the Race Officer thought that just 1 lap was sufficient for Skywalker in Class B. Antix led the fleet in, with No Compromise second, Icon third and Cold steel a long way off the pace. Result: Class A. 1^st Antix, 2^nd Icon, 3^rd No Compromise, Derek Frank. Class B. 1^st Skywalker, Peter Brown.

Enthusiasm was waning for the fourth race of the weekend and just 2 boats came out in Class A and 2 boats came out in Class B to compete in the fifth race in the Bank Holiday series and were greeted by the best weather of the weekend with a fresh southerly wind blowing providing warmth which had been lacking from the previous northerlies and a flat sea. All four boats made a close start with the fleet rapidly settling in to the theoretically correct order of Antix, Icon, Samaki and Skywalker. Speeds were excellent and the boats completed their first lap in under an hour and set off for their second with the order remaining the same, Antix, Icon, Samaki and Skywalker. Class A went on to complete a further lap, but Class B curtailed their race in the order Samaki and Skywalker, but the handicap would reverse the result. In Class A,  Antix led in Icon with a large enough lead to beat her handicap. Result: Class A. 1^st Antix, 2^nd Icon. Class B. 1^st Skywalker, 2^nd Samaki

Pursuit 1: Saturday 26th April 2014

With thick fog followed by terrific thunderstorms on the Friday, racing over the weekend looked exceedingly doubtful, but eight boats thought it worth the risk and ventured outside the harbour to be greeted by a fresh south easterly and only a moderate sea, but most of all, clear visibility. They were racing in the first of the pursuit series of races where the slowest boats set off first and the greyhounds set off last. First off was Lady Hamilton and made good speed towards the harbour entrance before turning out to the bell buoy. She was followed by Double D, Samaki, Cold Steel, Monsoon, Antix and No Compromise. The sharper of you will have noticed this is only 7 boats, Qantro, or at least the ship’s dog, had decided the conditions were a little too fresh for her.

After the bell buoy, the fleet headed for Sandsend with the wind behind them. Only Antix and No Compromise risked flying their spinnakers, but Samaki made ground on Double D and Lady Hamilton. Having reached Sandsend, the boats hauled in their sheets to start the beat back to the start line. The fleet split with some choosing inshore and the remainder heading out to sea before completing their first lap. Lady Hamilton hung on to her lead, but Double D had made the wrong choice of direction and allowed the chasing fleet to pass her. Samaki was catching Lady Hamilton, but not as fast as the charging Antix who eventually passed both Samaki and Lady Hamilton and established an unassailable lead. That was the order as time rang out. Result: 1^st Antix, John Allen, 2^nd Samaki, Nigel Robinson, 3^rd Lady Hamilton, Malcolm & Joanna Stuart

BH2 - Saturday 9th April

Only three boats came out to compete in the first of the Bank Holiday series of races on Saturday. It looked like a fresh easterly would be hard work for the crews, but the wind was dropping as the start approached and was just a manageable force 3 as the start sequence started. Antix made the most competitive start with Qantro not far behind and Cold Steel was reluctant to start but eventually picked up the pace. Antix maintained her lead out to the Bell Buoy, even though she’d been forced in to the first turning buoy and had a penalty turn to carry out, and extended it with some slick spinnaker hoisting. Qantro decided against the spinnaker, and Cold Steel might have wished she’d not bothered as problems were encountered with the hoist and then she had it up the wrong side and then had further problems changing sides. Eventually, she had all her sails sorted out and rapidly gained ground on Qantro eventually passing her on the leg down to Sandsend.

It was a tough beat back with the ebb pushing against the boats and the order was maintained, Antix, Cold Steel and Qantro. They struggled back to the Bell Buoy, before turning back for the buoy off Upgang. All boats hoisted spinnakers for this leg and had an even tougher beat back as the wind dropped and the ebb increased. All boats struggled round the third last buoy and Cold Steel was forced on to it and had to complete a penalty turn. Antix led in Cold Steel and Qantro just finished in time to catch the extra lunch-time bridge. Result: 1^st Antix, John Allen, 2^nd Cold Steel, Nigel Jarvis, 3^rd Qantro, Nathaniel Drake

Early Bird Race

Six boats ventured out for the first race of the season for the Early Bird Trophy. They were greeted by a fresh force 5 westerly wind, so the majority of the boats rapidly had to revise their reefing procedures and dig out their small sails. However, they were all keen to go, apart from Masquerade who was having her first day out under her new owner. Icon and Antix were over keen and jumped the start. Both answered their recall and got down to making amends. Double D was also making her debut bay race and made the perfect start, but No Compromise rapidly overtook her. These two led round the first buoy, but with both Icon and Antix making amends and Cold Steel keeping up the pace, it was a tight group heading for the second mark.

No Compromise maintained her lead at the second mark before heading for Sandsend, but Antix was close on her tail. Several of the boats either found it hard going or had gear failure (subsequently it was found out that Icon had crew failure after one of her crew took a nose dive across the cockpit) and decided to have an early finish, so Icon, Lady Hamilton and Masquerade all retired.

Antix had picked the right sails and roared past No Compromise on the beat to Sandsend, with Cold Steel making good ground as well. It was a long, hard slog in to Sandsend and crews were pleased to ease sheets and commence the long run back to the bell buoy, before starting yet another beat to complete the first and only lap. The order was maintained to the finish with Antix leading in, No Compromise, Cold Steel and Double D, but Cold Steel would be advanced one position after application of the handicap. Result: 1^st Antix (John Allen), 2^nd Cold Steel (Nigel Jarvis), 3^rd No Compromise (Derek Frank).