Blustery start

Ramsgate week kicks off with reports from Saturday and Sunday

Monday August 14th 2006, Author: Media Release, Location: United Kingdom
The first two days of Ramsgate Week are part of the Sail East series and all IRC boats sail the same courses. Race one was a triangle and sausage course in 15 – 20 knots of north-westerly wind against a fast southerly tide.

In class one Ding Dong (Stewart 37 Robbie & Pippa Stewart) loved the strong conditions and led from the first beat, never to be caught. Assassin (J39 Peter Jackson) sailed a steady race and narrowly managed to beat Perfect Ten (X35 Chris Goldsmith) into second place.

In Class two Exotic (X332 Mike & Jo Brand & David Elderfield), with Chris Brand on the helm standing in for injured dad Mike, were first to the windward mark followed by Who’s To No (J92 Richard Sparrow) X-Factor (X332 John Barrett & Paul Woodward) and Banque Populaire du Nord (First 34.7 Philippe Bourgeois). A thirty degree wind shift turned the reach into a beat to the Mercedes Kent buoy then a run to the leeward mark where Exotic still led followed by X-Factor and Banque Populaire du Nord. The course was altered to re-establish the beat where Banque Populaire du Nord managed to overtake X-Factor. The order remained the same for the final run with Exotic taking line and handicap honours.

Class three saw Amazon (Sunfast 32 Tony & Chuffy Merewether) sail away from the fleet for a comfortable win with Gambit (Aphrodite 101 Nick Poole) second and Spirit of Defiance (Contessa 33 Julian Lord & Geoff Payne) third.

In class four Scallywag (Impala Peter Pearson & Barry Smith) made an excellent start and was never seen again – sadly they do not know what they did right and are wondering how to repeat their performance! Ermintrude (First 29 Duncan Hayley) kept Reaction (Impala Mark Dale & Bob Booth) at bay for a good second place signalling their intentions for the rest of the regatta… Meanwhile back down the fleet Volante (Impala Paul Glover & Malcolm Flory) tangled with Pearson Gore (the windward mark) and Blue Imp (Impala Ian Braithwaite & Chris Brearley) paid for her lengthy lay-off with genoa problems and eventually retired. At the back of the fleet Wild Rover (Impala Andy Renshaw) and Sunbird (Impala Hugh Cripps) continued their tussle of last year and this time Wild Rover came out on top when Sunbird had an accidental gybe and injured one of their crew (but not badly).

For race two the wind was picking up and with the tide turning north creating a nasty short chop, several boats decided to return to harbour rather than risk damage on day one. A short windward – leeward course was set between the committee boat and Mercedes Kent.

Class one saw Ding Dong dominate again but this time Assassin’s race was spoilt by a costly kite wrap. Perfect Ten were next on the water but The Geek (Stewart 30 Ian Langston & Dave Kemp), despite also suffering a nasty wrap, managed to take second place on corrected time.

In class two Crikey VI (X332 Nigel Theadom) led the first beat but there was nothing between them and the following pack of Banque Populaire du Nord, Exotic and X-Factor. A very fast kite run followed and on the second lap Banque Populaire du Nord seemed to have problems and slipped back. On the second run A Boen (Stern 33 Johan Bol) blasted past everyone and held the lead up the beat to the finish but was beaten on corrected time by Crikey VI with Exotic taking third.

In class three Amazon was again victorious but this time by a much smaller margin with Big Zipper (Dehler 34 Clinton Lyon) second and Spirit of Defiance third.

In class four Ermintrude and Scallywag were again at the front but this time Ermintrude came out on top with Volante third.

In the Gentlemen’s class, with the forecast threatening force 5 to 8, the Race Officer decided to postpone racing until another day.

Ramsgate Week has always guaranteed sunshine and wind. Saturday supplied the wind and after a wet start Sunday gave the sunshine.

On Sunday in class one Assassin won the start but Ding Dong soon took the lead leaving Assassin having a very close battle with Perfect Ten. As the wind dropped, Ding Dong slowed and Assassin with her huge light genoa pulled away from Perfect Ten. Assassin took line and handicap honours. The Geek were sixth on the water but second on corrected time and Perfect Ten were third.

For class two the first leg turned into a close fetch to the East Brake buoy. Exotic rounded first with X-Factor second closely followed by Crikey VI and Banque Populaire du Nord. During the spinnaker leg to Mercedes Kent, X-Factor overhauled Exotic to round first and lead the fleet on a foul-tide beat up the Gull Stream. By the top mark Crikey VI had overtaken and led from Exotic and X-Factor round the second lap. On the final tack just yards from the finish Exotic managed to sneak past Crikey and win the race with X-Factor third and Monkey Business (X332 Robert & Jonathan Leggett) fourth.

Class three watched Amazon once more sail off into the horizon while Big Zipper and Spirit of Defiance scrapped all the way round finishing in that order.

In class four, the early solid rain made Wild Rover decide to stay in bed! At the start Sunbird got away first but was soon passed by Ermintrude who rounded the windward mark first with Scallywag, Reaction, Volante, Blue Imp and Sunbird following in close order later followed by Alcyone (Toledo Angela Bower). Boats stayed in this order on the run to Mercedes Kent but the beat to Gull Stream was a difficult tactical piece of sailing which found a number of boats unable to beat the tidal conditions – Ermintrude, Sunbird and Alcyone all retired – Ermintrude complaining about courses favouring local knowledge although the course was set by race officer Peter Rumbelow from Torquay! In the end Reaction and Volante got past Scallywag with Blue Imp coming in fourth.

The Gentleman’s class had their first race on Sunday. The first beat was into a strong tide and some of the boats struggled to make much progress in the first hour. Abrasive (Limbo 9.9 Ashley Taylor & Paul Hirst) was clean away at the start but was overtaken halfway along the leg by Piccalo (Dufour 44 Andrew Yates). Mirage (First Class 10 S Jones) chased hard in third. The order remained the same to the finish but Abrasive took the win on corrected time.

The Gentleman’s class ranges from 21 feet to 54 feet and from live-aboard cruisers to stripped-out racers with the family crewing. All of the starters managed to finish although for some it was a long race with elapsed times ranging from three and a half to six and a half hours.

http://www.rtyc.com/ramsgate_week2006results.htm

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