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.