Shearwater Catamaran 2001 Results

 

Shearwater Open Meeting at Seasalter Sailing Club

by Richard Hamblin June 2001

 

15 Shearwaters attended the 2nd of their Travellers Trophy events over the weekend of the 9th and 10th June at Seasalter Sailing Club, whose dedicated team of organisers once again made all the competitors very welcome from their arrival to departure. The club were also able to arrange a complete range of weather conditions and varied and interesting courses.

Race 1 was sailed in bright sunshine and light and variable breeze over a long P course beating into the tide. 5 Boats broke away on the first beat to contend the lead, with Alan and Jenny Howland sailing Cat et Al et Jen showing great tactical awareness, along with Daniel and Geoff Tindale in Orwell, to lead around the windward mark, followed at a short distance by Roger Brown and Derek Clark in New Dawn, Roger and Bonnie Crooks in Ruby and Richard Hamblin and Catherine Howland in Airflow. These 5 contested the lead down the reach with Cat et Al et Jen pulling away from Orwell, and Airflow slipping below New Dawn and Ruby to round the first of the downwind marks 3rd. The order remained the same onto the beat where Ruby was able to pass New Dawn whilst Cat et Al et Jen extended their lead. With the wind dropping the race was shortened with Cat et Al Et Jen taking 1st place. Orwell and Airflow diced with each other on the run in to the finish with Orwell just hanging on to 2nd with Airflow third.

Race 2 was sailed in even shiftier winds of variable strength over a much shorter P course. At the start the boats arriving early found themselves being swept over the line by the tide and a 30 degrees windshift, and despite a number of boats gybing to remain beneath the line the fleet managed to get away first time, with the late starters benefiting from the shifts. At the first mark it was again Cat et AL et Jen in the lead followed closely by Ruby, Nigel Stuart and Sarah Howland in Sim Sek and Derek Williams and Jamie Farnborough in Matisse, the rest of the fleet close on their heels. The lead was then swapped regularly between these 4 as the bulk of the fleet, including the leaders took the opportunity to practise penalty turns for hitting marks, which was a feature of the race. Rumours that all 4 marks were on 1 anchor were untrue. In the end Sim Sek developed a good lead followed by Ruby and Cat et al et Jen. Behind them places continued to change and Airflow worked its way through the fleet to follow these 3 into the final leg, over hauling Cat et Al et Jen on the run into the line. Newcomers Sin Sek took a well deserved victory followed by Ruby then Airflow and Cat et Al et Jen.

Sunday morning in contrast was wet and windy, with the wind steadily building up to the late start time of 2.30pm.

Race 3 was sailed over a variance of an Olympic course in strong wind gusting up to force 6. The early lead was again taken by Cat et Al et Jen followed by Ruby, New Dawn and Matisse. On the first reach Airflow was able to work through to third and on the second was able to close up to the leading pair. Cat et Al et Jen hung on, on what was a tight fetch, followed by another exciting 3 sail reach to lead onto the beat, where Matisse and Airflow were able to break though with Matisse leading at the windward mark followed by Airflow. Behind them a close battle was being fought out between Kevin and Shelley Saunders in Klass Act, New Dawn and Greg Wilcox and Jack Tindale in Foreigner. By this time the strong conditions were taking their toll and a number of boats capsized or suffered gear failure. Matisse continued to lead up to the gybe mark but on the following reach chose to fly a spinnaker and Airflow was able to climb over them on only two sails to take the lead, and continued to break away. On the completion of the next lap complete brain failure on Airflow, and an inability to count, lead them to believe they had finished, and unable to hear the guns in the strong breeze stopped causing confusion for the following boats. The more astute and numerate crews carried on allowing Foreigner to take the lead followed by New Dawn and Cat et Al et Jen who realised the mistake and continued racing to finish in that order.

With the wind remaining strong, and a number of people sailing borrowed boats or using new sails, discretion was shown and only 7 boats started the final race. Neil Struys and Barry Duck sailing New Flame lead off the line followed by Matisse, Foreigner and Ruby. These 4 had a close battle for the lead, with Matisse falling away after a capsize. Shaun and Dion Allen in Rumblefish showed excellent heavy weather skill to catch and overhaul these 4 dicing with Foreigner for the lead. Foreigner finally breaking away as the wind dropped to take the win and the weekend, followed by Rumblefish then Ruby and New Flame.

Once again Seasalter arranged a superb weekend both on and off the water, and even managed to resist the attempts of the fleet to drink the club dry on Saturday evening. The small band of volunteers managing to cater for the fleet superbly both on and off the water.

Overall Results:

 

1st - Foreigner - Greg Wilcox & Jack Tindale

2nd - Cat et Al et Jen - Alan Howland & Jenny Howland

3rd - Ruby - Roger Crooks - Bonnie Crooks

4th - Sim Sek - Nigel Stuart & Sarah Howland

5th - Matisse - Derek Williams & Jamie Farnborough

 

Shearwater Open Meeting at the Catamaran Yacht Club, Sheppey

by Richard Hamblin 30-31September 2001

 

The Shearwater Travellers Trophy held its 6th Flexifoil International sponsored event at the Catamaran Yacht Club on the Isle of Sheppey over the weekend of the 30th and 31st September. This was the first time that the Shearwaters had visited for some 20 or so years and the club organised a superb event both on and off the water showing great enthusiasm and organisation to ensure an excellent weekend was had by all.

Races 1 & 2 were sailed on Saturday either side of high tide, over a traditional Olympic course of Triangle / Sausage, in light and variable winds.

Race 1 saw the fleet split on the beat with John and Clifford Hill sailing "Space Odysseys" making the early running followed closely by Alan and Jenny Howland sailing "Cajensa et Cat et Al" and Roger and Bonnie Crooks sailing "Ruby". These 3 fought for the lead for the first 2 legs, but with the fleet again splitting on the second reach Shaun and Dion Allen sailing "Rumblefish" were able to squeeze by into the lead going onto the beat, a position they managed to hold for some time. However with the wind dying, and the tide featuring more, Cajensa et Al et Jen were able to break through to take a good lead, followed by Ruby and Space Odysseys. The race finishing in that order.

Race 2 was sailed immediately after race 1 and with the tide now running hard the start line was congested, with the early arrivers being pushed over the line, causing some confusion over recalls. Greg Wilcox and Ben Farnborough sailing "Foreigner" capitalised on this and led at the windward mark, with Ruby and Rumblefish once again following. The race settled into a battle between these three with Ruby and Rumblefish slowly gaining on Foreigner, with both finally squeezing by to give Ruby the win followed by Rumblefish with Foreigner 3rd and Cajensa et Al et Jen again showing excellent light airs ability to take 4th.

Sunday dawned grey (again) and with a solid breeze, and a forecast of lots more wind for later in the day, so the race committee decided to change the format to again be 2 races back to back, and as Saturday sailed over a traditional triangle / sausage course.

Once again the fleet split on the first beat with the right hand side just paying. Richard Hamblin and Catherine Howland sailing "Airflow" led at the windward mark followed by Neil Struys and Charlotte Duck sailing "New Flame" and Geoff and Daniel Tindale sailing "Eternal Flame". Airflow hung onto the lead until the first sausage where they got the angles wrong allowing New Flame and Eternal Flame to pass them, and Rumblefish and Foreigner to close. The race developed into a hotly fought battle between these 5 with New Flame holding onto the lead, but never far ahead of the other 4 with Foreigner passing Airflow, and Rumblefsh showing excellent upwind speed to get up to 2nd briefly. Going into the final windward mark it was to close to call between New Flame, Eternal Flame and Foreigner with Airflow just behind, Rumblefish having unfortunately taken a swim half way up the beat in the ever increasing and gusty conditions. Approaching the mark Eternal Flame and Airflow were just laying the mark on Starboard with Foreigner coming in on Port and New Flame to leeward, also on starboard. Foreigner was forced to under tack Eternal Flame to try to squeeze up to the mark, and with New Flame tacking to make the mark there was a collision which forced both Foreigner and New Flam to retire, allowing Eternal Flame to round first followed closely by Airflow. These 2 split on the run to the finish and Airflow was able to just squeeze ahead on the line to take the win, followed by Eternal Flame 2nd and, as a result of the 3 retirements behind, Space Odysseys took third followed by Nigel Stuart and Duncan Speak sailing "Cajensa also" in 4th.

With the wind increasing only 6 boats stayed out for race 4. With a wind shift on the line a number of people were unable to cross and were forced to tack or gybe round to start allowing Derek Williams and Jamie Farnborough sailing "UFO" to take a commanding lead followed by Rumblefish and Eternal Flame. These 3 continued to extend the lead whilst Cajensa et Al et Jen and Airflow battled for 4th and 5th behind them. UFO sailed an excellent race to remain untroubled in the lead whilst Eternal Flame was snapping at the heels of Rumblefish, who again showed excellent upwind speed to hold them off and, at the finish, UFO took a well deserved win, followed by Rumblefish and Eternal Flame, with Airflow just pipping Cajensa et Al et Jen for 4th.

 

Overall Results:

1st - 1996 - Ruby - Roger Crooks & Bonnie Crooks

2nd - 1995 - Rumblefish - Shaun Allen & Dion Allen

3rd - 1997 - Cajensa et Al et Jen - Alan Howland & Jenny Howland

4th - 2003 - Eternal Flame - Geoff Tindale & Daniel Tindale

5th - 1989 - Airflow - Richard Hamblin & Catherine Howland