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).