AUTUMN REGATTA
Sunday 13th October
More photos to follow
Photos above: Colin and Liz Chettleburgh
Boundary calls (well the riverbanks), moving marks, over 100 years of innovation and incremental development, marginal gains and custom sail wardrobes, are not limited to fleets of 2 or 6 in Barcelona at this time of year, as seven River Cruisers and a Dragon met last Sunday for the last racing in the EACC calendar – the Autumn Regatta!
The morning was bright and breezy but the icicles hanging from the new clubhouse hinted at the temperature. The first award of the day went to Soozy Hopwood for having the warmest attire. Starting at the EACC Moorings the passage race consisted of a buoy just past Toad Hall on the way to Potter Heigham, another buoy at the Black Mill before Upton and the finish at St Benet’s Abbey. The fleet was split into two starts. It was a fine reaching start which quickly turned into an upwind leg towards Cold Harbour then a reach to and from the A mark followed by a beat to St Benet’s Abbey.
The day was bitterly cold so we thought, as race officers ably assisted by John Aves, that the beating would certainly ensure that the crews had to work hard which would keep them warm. We should have perhaps set a longer course as participants were still cold on arrival at St Benet’s! Mike and Sally Jones ably manned the safety boat, needing multiple layers of clothes and lots of hot beverages to keep them from frost bite!
Meeting the wind limits the race was 'live' (new trickle-down America's Cup terminology...) at 10.45 am the first 4 boats across the start-line against the tide. The wind followed the same pattern as for much of the sailing season with a 12 mile an hour base with significant challenging gusts.
With no rules to state who had to cross the initial start line on port or starboard, two of the first start fleet started on the leeward bank and two on the windward bank leading to some interesting tacking duels on the way up to Cold Harbour. In the second start Pickle had a brilliantly timed run to the line that Ben Ainslie would be proud of!
Having watched all the competitors sailing briskly off the wind back past the EACC moorings, we, the committee boat upped anchor as the fleet disappeared in the direction of Upton to make sure we were moored at to St Benet’s to await the fleets arrival.
First to appear was John Holmes in Sabrina 2 who cross the line first. She pipped Wandering Rose (who was sensibly reefed as they were two up in blustery conditions). Tinkerbell finished 5 minutes later followed by Pippinjack who had unfortunately spent a considerable amount of time on the mud (a pile of flints actually)!
The second start boats also had a good beating battle down to the first mark. Momentary Lapse of Reason, the Dragon pulled ahead and was first to finish, closely followed by Evergreen, Pickle and finally Dove.
After handicaps had been applied Sabrina 2 helmed by John Holmes was the winner by over 2 minutes on corrected time, with Pickle 2nd and Wandering Rose 3rd.
Following lots of hot drinks, lunch, cake and lots of typical EACC camaraderie, the afternoon passage race back was sailed in much lighter winds. The course was reversed, and all the boats made a clean start with some much closer to the line than others. Not sure anyone quite made the split-second timing of an America’s Cup start, but then it was a running start with a following tide… The race was panning out as expected and the first start boats still had a reasonable wind when they sailed past the Club moorings only for disaster to strike with the wind dropping away to almost nothing soon afterwards. Three of the first fleet managed to complete the course with Wandering Rose taking line honours, followed by Sabrina 2 and Tinkerbell. Despite gallant efforts especially by the Dragon no-one else managed to finish.
The race was won by Sabrina 2, with Wandering Rose 2nd and Tinkerbell 3rd. The die-hards in Momentary Lapse of Reason were still determined to complete the course and battled on valiantly and rounded the final mark, only for the wind to drop completely, so sadly had to retire.
Thanks to all the competitors for a great October day’s racing. Special thanks to Sally Jones and Phill Bennett-Martin for some great photos (plus we took a few as well) to record the event.
Liz and Colin Chettleburgh
OOD’s
RESULTS
| Autumn Regatta 2024 | Race 1 | Jubilee Cup | ||||||||||
| First Start Time: | 10:45:00 | Date: | 13/10/2024 | Conditions: | ||||||||
| 2 | Start Interval: | 00:05:00 | Wind -> | Strength: | Direction: | |||||||
| Beaufort | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Entered | |||||||||||
| Sail | Start | Finish | Pen | Elapsed | Corrected | |||||||
| No | Boat Name | Helm | Handicap | No | Time | Min | Time | Seconds | Seconds | Time | Position | |
| 152 | Sabrina 2 | J Holmes | -5% | 1 | 12:08:34 | 01:23:34 | 5014 | 4763 | 01:19:23 | 1 | ||
| 429 | Pickle | P Montague | -16% | 2 | 12:27:20 | 01:37:20 | 5840 | 4906 | 01:21:46 | 2 | ||
| 368 | Wandering Rose | Steve Burton | -2% | 1 | 12:10:10 | 01:25:10 | 5110 | 5008 | 01:23:28 | 3 | ||
| 418 | Tinkerbell | A Lincoln | -8% | 1 | 12:15:52 | 01:30:52 | 5452 | 5016 | 01:23:36 | 4 | ||
| 209 | Evergreen | D Thompson | -12% | 2 | 12:25:40 | 01:35:40 | 5740 | 5051 | 01:24:11 | 5 | ||
| D148 | Momentary Lapse of Reason | A. Gill | -8% | 2 | 12:23:12 | 01:33:12 | 5592 | 5145 | 01:25:45 | 6 | ||
| 266 | Dove | D Hopwood | -12% | 2 | 12:29:31 | 01:39:31 | 5971 | 5254 | 01:27:34 | 7 | ||
| 318 | Pippinjack | P Stevens | -7% | 1 | 12:20:40 | 01:35:40 | 5740 | 5338 | 01:28:58 | 8 | ||
| Autumn Regatta 2024 | Race 2 | Joe Delf Trophy | ||||||||||
| First Start Time: | 14:00:00 | Date: | 13/10/2024 | Conditions: | ||||||||
| 2 | Start Interval: | 00:05:00 | Wind -> | Strength: | Direction: | |||||||
| Beaufort | ||||||||||||
| 8 | Entered | |||||||||||
| Sail | Start | Finish | Pen | Elapsed | Corrected | |||||||
| No | Boat Name | Helm | Handicap | No | Time | Min | Time | Seconds | Seconds | Time | Position | |
| 152 | Sabrina 2 | J Holmes | -5% | 1 | 15:34:13 | 01:34:13 | 5653 | 5370 | 01:29:30 | 1 | ||
| 368 | Wandering Rose | Steve Burton | -2% | 1 | 15:34:16 | 01:34:16 | 5656 | 5543 | 01:32:23 | 2 | ||
| 418 | Tinkerbell | A Lincoln | -8% | 1 | 15:42:19 | 01:42:19 | 6139 | 5648 | 01:34:08 | 3 | ||
| 318 | Pippinjack | P Stevens | -7% | 1 | RTD | 00:00:00 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | RTD | ||
| D148 | Momentary Lapse of Reason | A. Gill | -8% | 2 | RTD | 00:00:00 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | RDT | ||
| 209 | Evergreen | D Thompson | -12% | 2 | RTD | 00:00:00 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | RTD | ||
| 266 | Dove | D Hopwood | -12% | 2 | RTD | 00:00:00 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | RTD | ||
| 429 | Pickle | P Montague | -16% | 2 | RTD | 00:00:00 | 0 | 0 | 00:00:00 | RTD | ||
Photos above: Sally Jones
Photos above: Colin & Liz Chettleburgh