Etchells UK National Championships 2011

Andrew Millband and his Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club Race Committee organised three excellent races on Saturday, and a further two on Sunday, adding to last week’s session of only three Races as they had been curtailed because of the high wind .
Races 4 and 5 were raced in steady westerly winds of 18-22 knots on a flood tide with Darling S, the loaner boat provided by the Fleet’s Admiral Ted Fort, winning Race 4.  Helm Rob Gullen was well assisted by two 2011 World Team Match Racers as his crew (Rachel Willamson and Ben Ainsworth from the Wessex Exempt Team Racers) along with his regular bowman, Matt Reid. Darling S did an excellent job keeping fast and deep downwind, thus overtaking Shaun Frohlich’s Exabyte V which rounded first at the top mark.  Newcomer Frohlich and his crew of  David Bedford and bow Duncan Tresswell  obtained a  creditable  second place in each of Saturday’s three races despite one of their spinnaker panels splitting. They were fast upwind. As Bedford said “Shaun has had the biggest smile ever all weekend; he just loves the Etchells”.
Race 5, with increasing gusts, was Esprit’s turn. Helmed by John Gimson with regular crew member Mark Cartwright, also managing to hold off Exabyte V downwind by staying deep. Ragtime and Darling S both had to restart having been OCS and but Darling S recovered to finish 4th. Shamal  (Hugh Evans, Roger Reynolds,  and Lizzie Foreman) had gear damage and was forced to retire.  By the end of the race, the wind had gone about 15 degrees left, so the Committee boat repositioned the start line.
Race 6 saw a building breeze of 25 knots , with the wind against tide Solent Chop increasing, Andrew Millband sensibly shortened the race. It was a repeat result of Race 4 with Darling S beating Exabyte V but in the shortened and shiftier track, though all the boats still finished closely together. Darling S held a number of boats out to the layline to round the top mark just behind Esprit before gaining her first place on the downwind leg. Franks’s Palaver retired after spinning out with a Chinese gybe. Kent Paisley crewing on Palaver (with Oscar Mead on bow) has chalked up over  20 years Etchells sailing experience in Canada and North America, and is a past International Governor of the Fleet, but this was his first ever experience of the Solent. “Super windy, great competition, and can’t wait to come back”.
Fortunately the high winds forecast for Sunday didn’t materialise, and the two races were sailed in westerlies of about 12 knots, sometimes gusting to 15. Occasionally winds went light and patchy, down to as low as 8 knots. Race 7 saw Exabyte V get the best start and keeping control by tacking on the first three shifts correctly and staying in a steady breeze.
Race 8 was again lead by Exabyte V with Rob Goddard’s Ragtime in close pursuit throughout the race in second, and again the race ended with nearly all of the boats finishing tightly within about 90 seconds of each other.
Esprit sailed a consistent series over the two weekends and won the Regatta, followed by Ragtime  (Rob Goddard, James Downer, and Koen van Mierlo) second, and Ian Law’s Pale Tide taking third spot. Crews on two of the boats were overweight and allowed to race but their results didn’t count in the series.
The CCYC continued to look after the Fleet both on and off the water with some excellent hot food after each day’s racing, and the Nationals included a Fleet dinner at the Royal Corinthian and a party at David and Patsy Franks’s house along with a presentation of the season’s trophies.
 
The Nationals were a good reminder that the older boats still perform well as Bill Hardesty, who has twice won the Worlds (Chicago 2008 and San Diego 2011) in an older boat, put it:  “The beauty of the Etchells is that you can make the old boats go as fast as the new boats and that is what keeps the fleet strong ”. Bill is looking to keep his title at next year’s Worlds in Sydney in February.
 
Ragtime  won the  Corinthian trophy as the first non professional crew, and Shamal won  the trophy for being the first boat home with female crew sailing with 3 girls in the series.

Etchells Bedrock Cup in the Solent 17/18 July 2011

The Solent gave another pasting to the Etchells fleet over the weekend of June 18th and 19th as they fought over the Bedrock Trophy (donated by double Etchells World Champion Stuart Childerley) with winds on Saturday a sustained 28 knots gusting 35. Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club’s dedicated team led by PRO Andrew Millband got 2 races in using the shelter of Osborne Bay. None the less the fleet were pretty lonely out on a wind-swept Solent.

Sunday was brighter and sunnier but even though the breeze was mid teens on the way out to the start. The 4 races were run in building pressure which topped out in the mid to high 20's as the day wore on. There were many new young guns in the fleet who were giving the old timers more than a run for their money.

In Race 1 Rob Gullen, 6th in this years SB3 worlds and aiming at an Etchells campaign, rocked up for his second race outing ever in the class. His crew included Kate Macgregor, one of the three girls in the UK’s womens Olympic match racing team who were recently placed second in the prestigious Sail for Gold Regatta. He was handily placed at the top mark where his crew set their chute beautifully to slide down the inside of early leader Laurence Mead. They held Mead out so he couldn't gybe, pulled off their own nice manoeuvre and were never seen again. Score one for the young guns! Mead took second and Rob Elliot third.

Race 2 and this time another young gun making a guest appearance in the middle of Rob Elliot’s boat took centre stage. John Gimson already a veteran of one season in the class, had Elliot’s boat right in it from the outset. He may be no veteran in Etchells but 4th in the Dublin worlds in his rookie season in 2010, as well as his regular Star boat sailing, makes Gimson a formidable competitor. A typical Etchells start saw the 4 boats nearest the committee boat all vying for the windward berth despite the near 30 knot winds. With a slightly biased beat the fleet had learnt that being windward boat gave a very good chance of being able to push the fleet left, before being the first to tack and lead into the top mark. This was the goal of the 4 boats squeezed into 3 boats widths just underneath the committee boat with 40 seconds to go!!! How they all got through is a miracle (much appreciated by the committee boat crew!!) but they did and Elliot with Gimson led. Laurence Mead, Geoff Mead and James Verner all on Freelance along with Rob Gullens crew on Darling S were always in close contention with the former again leading but not putting away the score.

Around the last top mark there wasn’t a lot in it as they approached but Elliots 2 boat length advantage became a near horizon job as he set his chute into a monster puff and planed off into the distance whilst Mead gybe setted into a lull and ended up having to fend off Gullen.

All on at the end of day one, which very much belonged to the new generation of very talented and competitive young sailors coming into the class.

Day two’s Race 3 gave the regatta a serious jolt. Mead went right looking for a tidal break behind the Bramble Bank but was harried all the way by Jamie Clark (with Rob Goddard in the middle) who had Loup Garou out for the first this season and showed great speed up the first beat. Mead led back from the right but as the top mark approached, Gullen’s Darling S found a little lefty to get just ahead and be able to tack to leeward and lead towards the top mark.

The first jolt of the race came 30 seconds later when his lower shroud broke and Gullen had to shoot head to wind to unload the rig. His day proved to be over and the joint leader was out of the regatta. Mead toured round from there to lead across the finish line to be greeted by the silence reserved for premature starters. His OCS gave the win to Eamon O’Nolan’s Holly Scott helmed by Gimson and so the young guns were at it again. David Franks, sailing with David Bedford and Fred Hall took 2nd and kept the establishment teams in it and it was to prove a very important point.

With a building breeze Gimson set off up the first beat of race 4 in a hurry. Sailing with what seemed flatter sails than the rest of the fleet, Gimson was never challenged for his win after the top mark. Mead was head to head approaching on port and tacked to leeward of Gimson on starboard. Gimson’s early bear away forced Mead into a leebow that was never going to be tight enough to lay the top mark, and as he gybed out.  Gimson did 2 quick tacks to lead around the top. Solid crew work and good speed are always a strong package and the team of 4 made no mistakes. Two bullets down and their no show on Saturday was looking expensive. The fleet continued to thin out as the building breeze took their toll and race 5 had its own dramas and Mead led down the first run only to see one of his crew perform a full dismount as the kite filled and Freelance roared off down the run. By the time he had dropped the chute and recovered the errant crew girl he was last of the
4 boats still racing and that's where he stayed. Gimson had some spinnaker issues of his own but raced round for a third straight bullet with Franks in second and Robert Elliot in 3rd.

So it all came down to the last race. Despite missing Saturday Gimson and O'Nolan's team on "Holly Scott" were not far off the lead and the Franks / Bedford / Hall trio were close by, despite, like Meads team, not having won a race so far. As always the Etchells fleet had to race and race hard, despite the paucity of boats still out there and the now solid 25 to 28 knot winds. The 3 remaining boats all lined up at the committee boat, sails flogging and space tight with Mead first away and in the lead at the top. His spinnaker set was however a disaster, the crew person who had gone overboard breaking the bow shockcord during her 8 out of 10 dismount, and, unbeknownst to the crew, this had become massively tangled in the spinnaker pole end! Gimson set and tried to sail over Mead whose chute filled at the same time. With both boats alongside each other and both having clear air from astern they planed off downwind in the run in formation, will Franks set cleanly and sailed lower. By the bottom mark Mead and Gimson were in a private battle that saw them both high of the mark and, having played out the likely scenario in his head before time, Franks' tactician David Bedford had their boat perfectly positioned to take advantage. While the leaders got into all sorts of strife trying to gybe back to the leeward mark Franks dropped his chute, rounded cleanly and sailed serenely off to the race win. Their Rory McIlroy moment of genius was backed up by a solid "second nine" where they kept it all under control round the last lap to take the bullet and, on count back, the 2011 Bedrock Trophy, from Mead in 2nd and Gimson / O’Nolan in 3rd.

At the end of the day the fleet had seen off the turbulent winds and, only through dogged consistency, seen off the young guns as well, but it bodes well for the future of the class that some of the most competitive young sailors in the country are now campaigning in the class and with the worlds in Italy in 2013, that trend is likely to intensify. For the old guard it's time to redouble efforts.

2011 South Coast Etchells Championships. CCYC May 28th and 29th 2011

Robert Elliot, Mark Cartwright and Sam Richmond are the 2011 South Coast Etchells Champions after a dominating performance in a very strong wind regatta hosted by the Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club over the weekend of May 28th and 29th  2011. Their commanding win sets them up nicely for their trip to the 85 boat Etchells Worlds, which start in early June in San Diego.  The weekend proved again the adage that the Etchells can race in winds of 3 to 30 knots, with several races being completed on the Sunday in winds which topped out at this wind speed.

On day one race officer Andrew Millband set up a short course in Osborne Bay that was protected from the short chop that was making the Bramble Bank un-sailable.  As is the norm, the Etchells all launched off the line in close company in race 1, with the boats starting further up the line able to control the fleet out towards the port tack layline. Those able to tack off early led at the top with David Franks / Stuart Childerley / Ollie Franks marginally ahead of Elliot and his team, with Laurence Mead / Geoffrey Mead / Richard Dicker rounding out the top 3. The latter had come from the left hand side where the shifts meant nice port tack lifts but inside Osborne Bay it was shifty and gusty, giving potential to both wings of the course. The eventual champions had a moment of concern half way down the first run when a big gust shot through the fleet and they had a mini broach to drop back a bit. David Franks kept the ship upright to lead round the bottom mark, and up the next beat it stayed the same, but another big gust on the last run did for Mead who couldn’t get his gybe in, and, staying a bit higher to keep the keel under the mast on the leaders boat allowed the very well sailed Elliot / Cartwright and Richardson boat to soak deeper and into the lead. With the first of a series of great drops over the weekend they then bought it home for an opening race win.  

The 2nd race saw the fleet a little less keen on the port end bias as they were all aware of the need to be able to tack reasonably quickly after the start to get onto the longer port tack. Geof Gibbons lined this one up nicely and had good height after the start to be able to pin the fleet left, until better speed from Elliot allowed him to tack over and cross, always a nice feeling. They led until the 2nd beat when David Franks, with Stuart Childerley in the middle, went further right and sailed round the leading duo into a lead they never relinquished. Robert Elliot’s “Bedrock” took 2nd from Mead who was 3rd again. Making a move up the fleet was Farr 45 sailor Shaun Frolich, in his first Etchells race weekend, who got 4th with David Bedford calling shots in the middle.

By the end of Saturday the overcast sky and solid breeze made it a survival exercise for many in race 3, with the fleet somewhat thinned out by mainsails which had been flogged so much the battens had become fish food, and spinnakers which needed more than just TLC to see another race. Mead led this one with Franks in 2nd but he had a tap at Meads transom on the leeward mark rounding and with the tight fleet he found himself out the back door by the time he has done his penalty. Mead still couldn’t convert his lead into a bullet, losing out to the hard charging “Bedrock” boys. while Roger Reynolds and Hugh Evans on “Shamal” took the last podium place. Franks finished 5th behind the consistent Frolich, out of the 8 entries.

Come Sunday morning and the fleet stood ashore listening at the wind in the rigging but a call to the PRO and his team out on the water suggested it was sailable, so, with a short delay the fleet set to for race 4. By this time Robert Elliot’s team were showing no mercy and in this one they led from start to finish. Never by much but always by enough! They were no faster upwind than the leading bunch started really well and had better spinnaker sets at the top. These skills combined with being able to sail lower down the runs in the puffs and then get the spinnaker down as well were winning moves which none of the other teams could match in the solid 25 gusting 30 knot breezes.  Mead got another 2nd but the regatta was heading to GBR987.

The Solent was getting pretty sparsely populated by now with other classes motoring past as the Etchells fleet battled it out. David Franks kept things alive with a win in Race 5 but with Bedrock keeping it tight with another 2nd the regatta was heading to them. The team on GBR987 showed nice speed all the way round the course and with a number of years of consistent training under their belts they also showed by far the best boat handling all weekend to become worthy winners.
Race 6 was called off as the breeze kicked into a solid 30 knots and the fleet returned to the CCYC clubhouse for beer and munchies while watching the Monaco Grand Prix. Windy, but all the fleet had a great time on the water and we wish Robert Elliot and Rob Goddard and their respective crews a good week at the World Championships being sailed in San Diego California June 6th to 11th. More info at www.etchellsukfleet.co.uk and www.etchellsworlds2011.com

The Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy

organized by the Royal Yacht Squadron lived upto its billing as one of the best Solent regatta’s with well organized quality racing, Laurence Mead’s write up is below.
The Sir Kenneth Preston Trophy, hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, saw its usual cut and thrust racing as the Etchells fleet lived up to the trophy donors desire for close and competitive racing in one-design keelboats.  With John Gimson and Eamonn O Nolan’s “Holly Scott”, and Laurence Mead’s “Freelance” back out on the water after 4th and 10th places in the World Championship last year, the fleet knew that it was going to be a weekend of very tight racing. 7 races were scheduled and completed in glorious sunshine and 6 to 14 knot south easterly breezes.
Race 1 saw a lot of boats over, some returning, others not. Laurence Mead had a poor start (but wasn’t over) and spent the race playing catch up. Rob Goddard on  “Ragtime” with local Gurnard SC dinghy sailor James Downer doing tactics got it all right to lead up the left hand side, a tactic which was going to become a feature of the racing as the majority of the races were sailed in a strong Solent Ebb (West going) tide. Eamonn O'Nolan / John Gimson also had a less than stellar start and they fought for clear air up the right hand side but with good height and decent speed they kept themselves in the race. Also showing well was David Franks on “Elvis”, sailing with David Bedford and Fred Hall. They led most of the way round but Mead slowly ground them down and got himself into the lead, only to twice hand the advantage back to Franks / Bedford / Hall through what appeared to be a distinct rustiness on the part of the driver! The last time was at the last mark and Franks headed off for a first race win, but for the fact that he was one of the boats OCS who hadn’t returned. So Mead took race 1, Gimson / O’Nolan got 2nd after Robert Elliot on “Esprit” had also been adjudged OCS from 2nd and Goddard / Downer / McGaw took 3rd.
Race 2 was sailed in the heat of the afternoon sunshine and this shut the breeze down to its lightest of the weekend.  Mead was OCS and went back while Gimson / O’Nolan struggled round in the minor placings. Stars of the show were the four sailors on “Shamal”:  Hugh Evans /Roger Reynolds/ Simon Knight and UKSA and Keel Boat Academy sailor Lizzie Foreman, who was out for her first ever Etchells sailing experience and calling shots in the middle. They took off up the first beat and had a very nice lead at the top. They held this down the run but after another beat of gradually lighter and more southerly breeze they found their advantage being eroded. The last run called for a very quick gybe to get back into the now faltering southerly breeze and lack of crew training found the team on "Shamal" wanting as they got rolled by both David Franks and Rob Goddard. That’s how it finished with Mead in 4th, Gimson / O’Nolan in 5th and Robert Elliot in 6th , having also missed the better breeze on the left hand side of the last run.
Race 3 saw a real dog fight for the left hand side up the first beat  with Gimson taking the pin and trying to fight his way far enough forward and stay high enough to squeeze off the rest of the fleet. Laurence Mead was directly to windward of him and these two were the last boats standing as the port layline approached. Gimson was in full squeeze mode, Mead trying  to hold his lane to windward. When they both tacked there was some head to wind luffing action but Gimson held his position and got round the top first. Mead then got his gybe in slightly quicker on the run to be able to fight for an inside berth and the two boats were never more than a few feet apart as they sailed the entire run nearly overlapped or at times side by side. Mead lead round the bottom and these two were well clear of the rest so with a bit of a one sided beat Mead held onto his small lead to win race 3 and lead overnight with Goddard / Downer / McGaw in 2nd and Gimson / O’Nolan / Williamson and Dickens in 3rd , but only 2 points separated the top 3.
Day 2 dawned a bit windier but with the same ebb tide. In true Etchells style the fleet were nose to tail at the first mark. Gimson and Mead had been battling up the left hand side with Franks in amongst them. Several times boats on starboard had tacked in front of the approaching port tackers hoping to lead out to the mark and this was to lead to trouble at the top.  As the mark approached Gimson led from the port layline, Mead further to leeward tacked onto starboard but had Elliot and Franks coming in on port. Elliot ducked Mead - who wasn’t quite laying the mark. Mead went to tack under Franks, who was (in what Murray Walker from Formula 1 fame would call a “racing accident”) unfortunately bearing away to duck the starboard tacker. They both realized that this wasn’t looking like a great outcome just before it became a poor outcome!!!! Mead retired to the beach needing a new mainsail and some duct tape, Gimson went onto win, with Elliot second (starting what was a very good 2nd day on the water for “Team Bedrock”) while Goddard saw his regatta score go backwards with a 5th. Mead missed the 5th race which “Holly Scott” took easily.  Robert Elliot / Mark Cartwright / Sam Richmond took another 2nd to get their show back on the road while Rob Goddard was 3rd.
With 2 bullets straight out of the top draw on Sunday morning the “Holly Scott” team were looking strong and their hold on the trophy was tightened when they took their count to 3 straight win in race 6. Mead was back out but made a mess of his pin end start managing to be OCS despite not having any company at the leeward end. Robert Elliot and Rob Goddard circulated in 2nd and 3rd but they were always closer to each other than to the team led by Eamonn O’Nolan, and, in fact, they were so close up the last beat that Elliott on port closely crossed “Ragtime” which led to a protest from Goddard. Despite posting a 2nd across the line (his third of the day) Elliot was later disqualified proving once again that a close quarters being on port (especially with the finish line 15 metres away!!!) is always a high risk proposition. Gimson had changed tactics from the Saturday racing to start further up the line and try and hold the fleet out to the port tack layline. Although this meant being in a bit more tide he made the ploy work several times, forcing people to tack and duck or hang on until they ran out of room on starboard. His speed was the same as the fleet but a degree or two more height was the key factor.  The Solent Etchells fleet remains very competitive, despite the lower numbers on the water this season, with 2 of the top 10 in last year’s worlds on the water and with World Champion crew Andrew Palfrey now living in Cowes the fleet will be holding a tuning and trial sail day in June for anyone wanting to trial sail in the class.
Although they had won the series, Eamonn O’Nolan / Jon Gimson / Rachel Williamson and Olly Dickens sailed the last race and had a belter of a time with the team of Mead / Mead and De Klerk on “Freelance”, these two doing 25 covering tacks up the 2nd beat with “Freelance” getting closer all the time and then being almost overlapped down the last run with a dozen gybe being thrown in. But with the quality of the tacks and gybes in the light breezes, Rob Goddard in 3rd couldn’t get close enough to upset the two leaders, with Mead leading rounding the last mark, where both boats proceeded to do lousy spinnaker drops into the tide, but Mead held on. At least he did until the now lighter wind and still strong tide combined with a 15 degree righty such that Robert Elliot finished his day on a high by sailing up the middle to claim a last gasp win. Gimson / O’Nolan almost sneaked past Mead as well but they had already done enough to lock up the trophy in the previous race. The regatta finished with some great close racing and once again Sir Kenneth Preston would have been happy that, despite the small turnout, his trophy was indeed hard fought for in some classic one-design keelboat racing.

On the Sunday night courtesy of Patrick Chisholm as host, the Fleet and guests had a wonderful meal on the Platform of the Royal Yacht Squadron.  Jonathan Peel and his team were thanked for their crisp racing organisation, and the competitors were well pleased with their weekend’s efforts.

1st Holly Scott 1297 John Gimson 2.0 (5.0) 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 3.0 15.0 10.0
2nd Ragtime 962 Rob Goddard 3.0 2.0 3.0 (5.0) 3.0 2.0 4.0 22.0 17.0
3rd Freelance 1339 Laurence Mead 1.0 4.0 1.0 (7.0 DNF) 7.0 DNS 5.0 2.0 27.0 20.0
4th Bedrock 987 Robert Elliott (7.0 OCS) 6.0 4.0 2.0 2.0 7.0 DSQ 1.0 29.0 22.0
5th Shamal 927 Hugh Evans 4.0 3.0 (6.0) 4.0 4.0 3.0 6.0 30.0 24.0
6th Palaver 1354 David Franks (7.0 OCS) 1.0 5.0 3.0 7.0 DNF 4.0 5.0 32.0 25.0

Etchells Second Spring Series Weekend 9/10 April

Saturday proved to be brilliant racing weather with Spring sunshine and ideal 12-16 knots from the east. David Franks’ Elvis and Rob Goddard’s Ragtime provided some very close racing swapping first and second places throughout the day. For the first three races, Elvis had the edge with two wins, before starting the final fourth race. Up the first beat, with both boats neck and neck yet again, Elvis’s mainsail halyard broke and she was forced to retire, leaving the coast clear for Ragtime to take 2 wins on the day.
The crews on these two boats were of exceptionally high quality: Rob Goddard’s Ragtime sailed with Dave Bedford -  well-known Solent sailor – calling tactics  against Elvis’s  Stuart Childerley, who has twice  won the  Etchells World Championships.. 
Sunday’s scheduled four races were abandoned as the winds never got above 5 knots. Leaving Rob Goddard’s Ragtime as the 2 weekend events winner.
The Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club once again provided professional racing for the fleet, getting the races away sharply so that the crews were back in good time to see the Grand National whilst relaxing in the club house with the welcome hot food and drinks.

Spring Series –Cowes  Etchells Fleet – 2nd & 3rd April
The fleet enjoyed ideal sailing weather in the Solent for its first outing of the year.  It was a good shake down, and also introduced some new sailors to the fleet .The fleet enjoyed 6 races: 2 long races on Saturday, and 4 shorter ones on Sunday.
Sarah Ross on loaner boat Palaver, having never helmed an Etchells, accounted for herself very well grabbing a 2nd place in the final of the 6 races.  She said “the sailing was in lovely conditions, and the Etchells maneuverability is astonishing, it will turn on a sixpence”.  Her husband Dave Ross called the tactics, and the atmosphere on their boat  was excellent and the crew were  clearly exhilarated by the experience.
Alex Christie, the previous owner of the ¼ tonner ASAP, sailed with Ian Law on Pale Tide and apparently commented on how as bow man he enjoyed impersonating an Octopus , and is looking forward to his next chance to sail after his wife gives birth due later this week.
Rob Goddard’s Ragtime and Rob Elliot’s Esprit tied for 2nd place overall. On the count back it was almost impossible to separate them.  They each had the same number of 1st places, the same number of 2nd places; and finally, they had the identical number of 3rd places.  Even after discard, they couldn’t be separated.  So unusually the split came down to the winner of the last race: Ragtime was therefore promoted to 2nd place and Esprit relegated to 3rd.
The weekend’s final 6th race was easily the most exciting as Rob Goddard put it “You could have thrown a rope around the top four boats at the top mark – they were probably no more than two boat lengths apart”. Rob Elliot added “at times it felt more like match racing, we were all so close”
David Franks’ Elvis with Graham Sunderland and Luuk Le Clercq are now leading the spring series by one point which concludes next weekend 9th – 10th April
The Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club organised first class racing, and provided some welcome food and drink for the hungry sailors as they came off the water.  Our thanks go to Andrew Millband, Race Officer,  and his team along with David Tillson and Pauline who saw to the hot food. 
Everyone was exhilarated by the racing and all are looking forward to this coming weekend to recommence battle . We start at 1300 on Saturday and 1030 on Sunday. There will probably be four short races each day. It’s never too late to join in. If anybody has any accommodation difficulties in Cowes,  David Franks would be happy to provide a room. The fleet currently has a loaner boat for anyone interested in coming out sailing.  Just contact David on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 0776 8063868. Don’t worry if you’re new to the Fleet: a warm welcome awaits you, and we can give you some tips as well as free use of a well equipped loaner boat .