Awesome Aera

Nick Lykiardopoulo's new Ker 55 dominates on day one of Chartering International IRC Championship

See Rick Tomlinson's photo gallery here.

Overcast skies and poor visibility didn’t bode well for the first day of the Chartering International IRC Championship 2003, however, with the weather came a consistent 12 to 17 knots of wind out of the south that promised some exciting racing for the 72 boat fleet in the Central Solent.

The first start, comprising the Zero and Super Zero classes, saw the boats take a classic starboard tack approach, but then split soon after, with the boats not deciding that any particular side was going to pay dividends. The Ker 55 Aera (Nick Lykiardopoulo), in only its second race, predictably found itself ahead at the first mark, with Volvo for Life Team Tonic (Nick Hewson) leading the trio of Admirals’ Cup entered Farr 52s.

IC45 Wolf (Glynn Williams) led the Zero class boats. The 15-17 knot wind was enough to test the sail handling and trimming abilities of a number of the crews, particularly soon after the windward marks. I-site (Robbie Cameron-Davies) was well placed early on, leading the Ker 11.3s, just ahead of the Swan 45s, a position she held onto to take third place in the Zero and Super Zero class, behind the on the water leaders Aera and Volvo, which took first and second places.

In the Class 1 start Exabyte 2 (Shaun Frohlich) tried a little too hard to steal a march on her rivals and found herself over the line, costing her about one and a half minutes in lost time and a 20% place penalty, giving her a final eleventh in class. The remainder of the fleet following a similar course to the boats in the first start, with no one side of the course being favoured.

The predominance of Prima 38s in Class 2, kept the group close together, with some exciting manoeuvres and tactics, particularly at mark roundings. The Synergia 40, Dickie’s Yacht Sales (Nigel Biggs) suffered gear failure, which required one crew member to spend an interesting few minutes up the mast and the boat not to finish the race.

In the second race of the day Chernikeeff 2 (Peter Harrison) and Wolf (Glynn Williams) were a bit overeager at the start. They quickly re-crossed the line and Chernikeef 2 pulled back all but thirty seconds of her deficit against her main on-the-water rival Bear of Britain (Kit Hobday/Tim Louis). However, with a Z Flag flying at the start, both the OCS boats were given a 20% place penalty, leaving them eighth and eleventh on the results sheet.

In the Zero class the Swans established their position ahead of the Ker 11.3s, where Cracker (David Pinner) showed a burst of speed to lead I-site at the mid-way point, but didn’t manage to maintain the same form to the finish line.

Some of the Class 1 boats also found themselves on the wrong side of a Z flag at the start, to receive place penalties, while Exabyte 2 redeemed her previous result with a first in class. First in class was where Voodoo Chile (Eamon Crosbie) found herself in class 2 as well; but she, along with second and third boats in class 2 all received a penalty for start line infringements in race two. Despite the penalty Voodoo Chile held second place at the end of race two, just one point behind Reckless Rat (Tom Peters).

Racing at the top of class 3 was equally close, with Electra (Mike Tattersall) leading the class after race two; a tie for second place, and only six points covering the top six boats.

In race three the Swan 45 Crackerjack (Keith Miller) started to show its potential with a second in the combined Zero and Super Zero class; also showing again was I-site, taking fourth place on corrected time, with Aera and Volvo For Life Team Tonic taking first and third positions.

In class 1, Exabyte 2 took second place behind Bare Knuckles (Robert Gateshill), with Dickies Yacht Sales showing what she is capable of, in third. Bare Knuckles’ first place rounded off a good day adding to the first and second places already achieved, to lead the class at the end of the day.

In class 2, new boat Voodoo Chile took another first place, but her good record was marred by not being completely prepared for racing. At the end of race two a Special Regulations inspector boarded the boat to carry out a spot check. Although on board, the crew was not able to produce lifejackets for everyone aboard within a reasonable time. The Race Committee, having no option but to protest the boat did so. The Protest Committee found that, although the lifejackets were onboard, they were not, in accordance with Fundamental Rule 1.2 and Special Regulation 5.01, readily available for use and the boat was disqualified from races one and two.

Highland Spirit (Hamish Oliphant) took her second second place of the day, and Flair IV (Jim MacGregor) a third place to add to the first place awarded in race one.

In class 3, Electra continued her charge at the front with another first place to lead the group. Excalibur (Mike & June Tong) took her second second place of the day, leaving Abrasive (Paul Hirst & Ashley Taylor) just behind them with one second and one third place for the day.

Results:

Pos	Boat	Type of Boat	Owner	Handicap	R1	R2	R3	Points
	Class SZ and Z
1	Aera	Ker 55	Nick Lykiardopulo	1.319	1	1	1	2
2	Volvo For Life Team Tonic	Farr 52	Nick Hewson	1.316	2	2	3	4
3	Crackerjack	Swan 45	Keith Miller	1.191	8	4	2	6
4	I-Site	Ker 11.3	Robbie Cameron-Davies	1.158	3	7	4	7
5	Bear of Britain	Farr 52	Kit Hobday / Tim Louis	1.318	5	3	5	8
6	Chernikeeff 2	Farr 52	Peter Harrison	1.32	4	9	6	10
7	Rebel	IC 45	Peter Morton	1.232	9	6	7	13
8	Nimmo	Dubois 37	John Killeen	1.105	7	11	8	15
9	Wolf	IC 45	Glynn Williams	1.234	6	13	11	17
10	Kirribilli	First 47.7	Doug & Lynne Flynn	1.139	12	8	9	17
11	Minnie The Moocher	Ker 11.3	Anthony Richards	1.158	10	13	10	20
12	Cracker	Ker 11.3	David Pinner	1.158	15	10	13	23
13	Jazz	J 145	Chris Bull	1.22	14	12	12	24
14	Alvine XIII	Swan 45	Harry Evans	1.192	11	14	15	25
15	Thunder 2	Mills 36	Donald Wilks & Kieron O'Connell	1.114	13	16	20	29
16	Farrfalina	Farr 40 foot	Rob Goddard	1.165	16	15	14	29
17	No Respect	One Design 35	Christopher & Hannah Neve	1.13	18	18	16	34
18	El Syd	BH 41	Ian McKinney	1.132	17	17	20	34
19	Minx	Corby 41.5	Andrew Ritchie	1.172	20	20	20	40
	IRC1
1	Bare Knuckles	Prima 38	Robert Gateshill	1.084	1	2	1	2
2	Exabyte 2	IMX 40	Shaun Frohlich	1.096	11	1	2	3
3	Fastwave II	First 40.7	A C P Sailing	1.071	2	3	5	5
4	Dickies Yacht Sales	Sinergia 40	Nigel Biggs	1.093	21	4	3	7
5	Longbow	Prima 38	Army Sailing Association	1.089	3	5	6	8
6	RoyalBlue Addict	First 40.7	Ian Handley	1.073	8	13	4	12
7	Circus	Seaquest 36	Andrew Webster	1.087	5	10	7	12
8	Beam On	Beneteau 40.7	Stuart & Jane Hemingway	1.073	4	13	10	14
9	Assassin	J 39	Peter Jackson	1.069	10	6	8	14
10	Mostly Harmless	Prima 38	Tom Hayhoe & Natalie Jobling	1.089	6	8	11	14
11	Magnum II	IMX 40	Andrew Pearce	1.095	9	7	9	16
12	White Knuckles	Prima 38	Mervyn Hughes	1.089	13	11	12	23
13	Gusto IV	Prima 38	Andrew Hinton-Lever	1.089	11	15	13	24
14	Push the Tempo	Bull 9000	Waveplane Massive	1.075	12	17	14	26
15	Shockwave	First 40.7	Nick Lutte	1.073	16	14	21	30
16	Kylidh	Prima 38	Guy Spurr	1.089	14	16	21	30
17	Moonshine	Mumm 30	Jack Kelly	1.078	15	16	21	31
18	Forward Thinking	Reflex 38	Geoffrey West	1.067	17	18	15	32
19	Bornslippy 2	Prima 38	Team ORL	1.089	21	21	21	42
19	Firestorm	Prima 38	Jonathan Perry	1.089	21	21	21	42
	IRC2
1	Flair IV	Elan 40	Jim MacGregor	1.045	1	8	3	4
2	Highland Spirit	Corby 35	Hamish Oliphant	1.035	8	3	2	5
3	Menenes	Swan 441	Graham Deegan	1.04	2	11	5	7
4	Obsession V	First 36.7	Barry & David Rose	1.028	3	12	6	9
5	Reckless Rat	X 332	Tom Peters	0.997	33	1	9	10
6	The Office	Ker 9m	Nigel Musto	1.044	6	4	7.5	10
7	Zarafa	HOD 35	Peter Scholfield	1.04	5	6	7.5	11
8	Glide-X	X 332	Ian Dawson	1.002	4	8	11.5	12
9	X-Therapist	X 332	Russell Hodgson	1	11	10	4	14
10	Carpetbagger	HOD 35	Michael Ronson	1.04	7	7	11.5	14
11	Jazolo	J 109	Robert Shaw	1.033	15	9	13	22
12	Capitali$m	HOD 35	Tim Harrington	1.038	9	15.5	18	24.5
13	X-Factor	X 332	Paul Woodward & John Barrett	0.999	14	11	15	25
14	Exotic	X 332	Mike Brand & David Elderfield	1	12	13	25	25
15	White Knight of Wessex	HOD 35	James Neville	1.036	13	14	14	27
16	Bump in the Night	First 40.7	Duncan Morris	1.027	10	18	28	28
17	Deuce	Elan 40	Martin & Maureen Gee	1.054	20	20	10	30
18	Brightwork	X 332	Graham Fairhall	1	16	15.5	16	31.5
19	Voodoo Chile	Kerr 32	Eamon Crosbie	1.033	33	33	1	34
20	Aztec	Mills 30	Malcolm Goodall	1.023	17	17	31	34
21	Sanguma	Ker 31	Chris Walmsley	1.048	19	19	17	36
22	Big Boys Toys	Corby 33	Andrew Percival	1.029	21	23	21	42
23	Jeronimo	J 109	Jonathan & Lisa Goring	1.032	22	21	23	43
24	Peanut	X 332	Jonathan Butler	0.996	18	28	33	46
25	Joyride	J 109	Michael Jones	1.036	23	24	24	47
26	Audacious	Jod 35	Paul Peggs	1.031	24	26	33	50
27	Malice	HOD 35	Michael Moxley	1.039	25	25	26	50
28	Judgement Day	J 109	Nigel & Suzie Brooke	1.027	33	33	20	53
29	Doris J of Fivestar	J 109	Five Star Sailing	1.017	33	33	33	66
29	Hot Doris	Mount Gay 30	Dominic Hurndall	1.041	33	33	33	66
29	Euphorix	Sigma 38	Joanna Martin	0.995	33	33	33	66
29	Rainmaker	Lightwave 395	Julian Charles Nichols	1.05	33	33	33	66
	IRC3
1	Electra	X 99	Mike Tattersall	0.988	1	3	1	2
2	Excalibur	Tamara 30	Mike & June Tong	0.932	4	2	2	4
3	Abrasive	Limbo 9.9	Paul Hirst & Ashley Taylor	0.983	2	5	3	5
4	Disko Trooper	Impala 28	Robert Garlick & Will Hamilton	0.893	5	1	6	6
5	Leda	Laser 28	Lance Tucker	0.91	3	6	4	7
6	Sareema	Fulmar	Robert McLeod	0.899	6	4	7	10
7	Penultima	Sunfast 32	Stuart Broughton	0.954	8	7	5	12
8	Tsunami	Bolero T/R	Roger Swinney	0.87	7	9	8	15
9	Cas	Dehler 34	Philippe Falle	0.937	9	8	9	17
10	Sigress	Sigma 33	David & Fiona Crawforth	0.928	12	12	12	24
10	Software Mistress	Sigma 362	Ian Maclean	0.958	12	12	12	24