Hosted by the Royal Temple Yacht Club 16-21st August 2010

IRC Class 1

Today was a champagne day for Belgium Carl Sabbe's Grand Soleil 40, Alegria, winning all three races in the increasingly boisterous conditions.

The first race was the closest, winning by three seconds from David Pinner's Haven Ports based Kiss, with Peter Jackson's Stimson 42 Icom Assassin third.

The second was a more comfortable win from the Frenchman, George Blondel's, Milo, with Dave Kemp's Burnham based The Geek! making an appearance in third after Icom Assassin trawled their kite and disappeared from the running.

The last win was from Peter Jackson's Stimson 42 Icom Assassin, who took line honours, but was beaten on handicap by less than half a minute by Alegria. David Pinner's X-35 Kiss took third place.

IRC Class 2

Race one in started blue skies with light, shifty wind, which increased to 21 knots by the end of the first beat; the most successful boats picking the wind shifts. One the start line, Marine Diffusion Dunkerque was ahead of Who's to No, followed by Xpedite and then Antix.  The rest of the race was perfect sailing, testing the crews sailing ability. The Impala's fought for positions with Volante in the lead and Reaction trying to keep up in the stiff breeze. The course took the fleet into the bay and then back out to the Vattenfall racing mark. A lengthy spinnaker run finished the race with Richard Sparrow's J92, Who's to No, taking line honours to win, with the Impala's Volante taking second place and Scallywag II third.

The second race for the QEII cup in Class 2 started in winds of 22 to 24 knots. Who's to No got off to a good start and held the lead, with Antix and Marine Diffusion Dunkerque following closely behind. Reaction, Scallywag II and Volante were swapping positions throughout the race. The was an exciting spinnaker run to finish with  Phillipe Bourgeois' Marine Diffusion Dunkerque taking line honours to win the race, Who's to No  crossed second, with Xpedite and Antix crossing the line together. Final placings, after handicap, were Marine Diffusion Dunkerque first, John Allen's X302 Antix second and Paul Glover and Malcolm Flory's Volante third.

The final race of the day saw Marine Diffusion Dunkerque and Xpedite over the line with a black flag flying; therefore forcing them to retire. Antix was first to the windward mark, with Who's to No following closely behind, and then overtaking them on the tight spinnaker reach. Who's to No led the fleet for the rest of the race, taking line honours, but was beaten on handicap by Antix who took first place with Reaction, sailed by John Barrett and Paul Woodward, second.

Cruiser Class 5 & 6

Class 5 & 6 had close fetch from the start line to Stonar in a force 2 to 3. The fleet rounded Stonar and had a close reach past the West Quern buoy, and then up to Mercedes-Benz racing mark, during which time the wind veered and increased to 20 knots. The next leg was a fetch to the West Goodwin in quite choppy seas. From West Goodwin there was a beat to Deal Dolphin and a broad reach and a run to B2, Stonar, with a broad reach to bring the fleet home.

In Class 5, Lance Steven's Grand Soleil 50 Sydney II took line honours to win the race, Frank Martin's Dynamic 37 Surprise was second, beating Arthur Freeman's J92 Jazz on handicap, who came third.

 

Vattenfall Ramsgate Week Day 4

The first day of the Vattenfall Ramsgate Week’s IRC Series was sailed in conjunction with the forth Cruiser Class Series race and was sponsored by Hornby. The two IRC fleets and two enthusiastic Cruiser fleets faced the challenge of variable winds dominated by a high pressure weather system. Only one of the two scheduled IRC fleet races was possible, with the second race postponed until tomorrow, giving the prospect of a demanding three race day on both Friday and Saturday.

IRC Class 1

Icom Assassin started at the pin end of the line, Koko Kai in the middle and the rest of the IRC 1 fleet near the committee boat. Icom Assassin and Koko Kai had a good start, with good boat speed. Carl Sabbe’s Grand Soleil 40 Alegria had to duck to stay below the line, with the X-35’s, Kiss and Xwaves, being on course side at the committee end. On the windward leg, Koko Kai tacked on a long starboard tack towards the North Quern, followed by Kiss and Xwaves. Icom Assassin chose to short tack in the middle of the course with the remainder of the fleet following. Icom Assassin was first round the windward mark; Koko Kai, Xwaves and Kiss fought for the next position, with Kiss rounding first followed by Xwaves and then Koko Kai. The four leading boats caught the tidal gate and stayed in these placings until the finish. The remainder of the IRC 1 fleet tried valiantly to round the windward mark in light winds and against strong tides. Icom Assassin took line honours, with David Pinner’s Kiss second and Xwaves third.

 

 

IRC Class 2

Richard Sparrow’s J92 Who’s to No, Antix, Marine Diffusion Dunkerque and Xpedite were able to break free from the start line which was difficult to leave behind against the tide and light winds.  Xpedite rounded the weather mark first, with a close fought battle between Antix and Marine Diffusion Dunkerque to round second. The boats then sailed on a short spinnaker reach to the leeward mark. The final leg was hard on the wind with Julian Poupard’s X-99 Xpedite taking line honours, John Allen’s X-302 Antix second and Phillipe Bourgeois’ First 34.7 Marine Diffusion Dunkerque third.

Cruiser Class 5 & 6

The race began with a northerly start to North Quern and then out to the No. 2 Channel buoy. There was an adverse tide up to the Channel buoy, with Jazz, Sydney II, Toucan, Rush deciding to go up the coast. The rest of the fleet tried to make it round the Channel buoy, but struggled to make it. The wind died, with the fleet sat between the Channel buoy and Pearson Gore. After a two hour wait, the wind filed in to 5 or 6 knots, taking the fleet to the Broadstairs Knoll buoy. Jazz was the first boat to round the mark, followed by Sydney II, Toucan, Rush, Surprise and Sunbird with the rest of the fleet following behind. There was a tidal gate, and those who hadn’t made it round Broadstairs Knoll found it difficult to get back on the long reach to the North Quern. The early boats managed to finish with the tide.

In Class 5 Arthur Freeman’s J92 Jazz took line honours, but was beaten by two seconds on handicap by Hugh Cripps’ Impala 28 Sunbird, helmed by Frank Curtis from Crouch Yacht Club who took first place, with M Moorhead’s Hunter Delta 25 Karana coming third.

In Class 6, S Jones’ Mirage took line honours and the overall win for the race, with Kenneth Lees’ Rush second place.

 

Vattenfall Ramsgate Week Day 3

Today’s racing was sponsored by Ramsgate Week’s title sponsors, Vattenfall, the company responsible for the Thanet Wind Farm. The IRC fleet were treated to a long, 30 mile race, which took them on a ten mile run to a cardinal mark off the wind farm. All IRC fleets were competing for the Noot Cup. Once again, the wind was variable, ranging from five to fifteen knots and shifted in direction frequently. 

IRC Class 1
In Class 1, Xwaves got off to a good start at the committee boat end of the line, with X-Tatic close behind. Peter Jackson’s Icom Assassin started towards the pin end, with Koko Kai taking their start in the middle of the line. Icom Assassin rounded the first mark, two boat lengths ahead of Xwaves and Koko Kai, with the rest of the fleet following. The next leg was a ten mile run to South Thanet, a cardinal mark south of the Vattenfall wind farm. Icom Assassin and Xwaves went high and KoKo Kai lost some ground by sailing a deeper, more direct track. Icom Assassin got a new breeze, taking a horizon lead on the rest of the fleet. Xwaves extended their lead over Koko Kai, but two miles from the South Thanet Vattenfall Wind Farm mark, Koko Kai found the breeze and overtook Xwaves. Positions remained this way, with Icom Assassin’s early lead further extended by a tidal gate to take line honours and the Link Cup. Xwaves took second place, with Ian Langston & Partners The Geek taking third place.

IRC Class 2
After a short beat to the Icom racing mark, the fleet set off on a ten mile downwind run to the South Thanet cardinal buoy, off the Vattenfall Wind Farm. The first Class 2 boat to round the mark was Richard Sparrow’s J92 Who’s to No, closely followed by, amongst others,  Marine Diffusion Dunkerque, Expedite and Antix. Who’s to No was first to the windward mark. A closely fought race between the Impala’s Reaction and Scallywag II finally resulted in Reaction taking first place for the Shepherd Neame Trophy, followed by Who’s to No second and Scallywag II third.

Noot Cup

The Noot Cup was the overall placing between the two IRC fleets. Peter Jackson’s Icom Assassin (the fastest boat in the fleet)took first place, with Reaction, (one of the lowest rated boats in the fleet) sailed by John Barrett and Paul Woodward second and Mike and Jo Brand’s X-35 Xwaves third.

IRC Mid Week Series Class Winners

IRC Class 1

1. Icom Assassin (Peter Jackson & Gary Shaffer)
2. Xwaves (Mike & Jo Brand)
3. Koko Kai (Alan Page)

IRC Class 2

1. Reaction (John Barrett & Paul Woodward)
2. Scallywag II (Peter Pearson & Barry Smith)
3. Antix (John Allen)

Cruiser Class 5 & 6
The Race Officer set a running start course down to Broadstairs Knoll, then to East Brake, down to Stonar and finish. At the start, the fleet split in two, with Magnum, Surprise, Toucan and Sunbird taking the inshore course, with Sydney II and the rest of the fleet going offshore. In the event, the offshore course paid off as they had more wind and Sydney 2 rounded Broadstairs Knoll first with the rest of the fleet following closely behind. Positions did not really change with a shy reach to East Break and a beat to Stonar. As the fleet was approaching Stonar, the tide changed making life difficult for the back end of the fleet.

In Class 5, Sydney II took line honours, but was beaten on handicap by Frank Martin’s Surprise to win the Broadstairs Knoll trophy. Sydney II was second, followed by Arthur Freeman’s J92 Jazz

In Class 6, Mirage took first place to win the Penguin Trophy with Rush in second place and Mallard third. 

Trophies for the day and for the IRC Mid Week Series were presented at the Royal Temple Yacht Club by Mandy Broughton from Vattenfall.

 

 

VATTENFALL RAMSGATE WEEK – DAY 2

The second day of Vattenfall Ramsgate Week was sponsored by Jentex and attracted a competitive fleet of local and visiting boats.

The two IRC fleets sailed a short course. The race started in light north easterly winds, which became variable throughout the race until a southerly breeze filled in to bring the fleet home in glorious sunshine. The variable conditions and strong tides led to interesting racing and many boats had a share of the lead during the course of the race.

IRC Class 1
Peter Jackson’s Icom Assassin had a good start in the Class 1 fleet. Kokokai launched their spinnaker out on the first leg and the rest of the fleet followed suit, but Mike Brand’s Xwaves managed to get ahead and was first to the windward mark. The next leg started on a spinnaker run, with Icom Assassin and Tim Grigsby’s X-Treme 25, X-Tatic carrying their asymmetrics. Xwaves sailed into a hole, with Icom Assassin overtaking and beating them to the next mark to lead the fleet home. The rest of the fleet suffered no wind and the placings remained the same for the remainder of the afternoon. X-Tatic caught Kokokai when the wind filled in at the end of the race, but didn’t manage to catch up. Icom Assassin took line honours with Xwaves second and Kokokai third.

IRC Class 2
In Class 2, the Impala 28 Scallywag II was first to the weather mark, closely followed by Antix. Xpedite, Volante and Reaction reaching the mark at the same time. The next leg belonged to Antix and Expedite, both sailing well to Mark X. Volante, being the weather boat, skilfully managed to pick up the first of the south easterly breeze. Xpedite took line honours. It was a pleasure to see Phillipe Bourgeois ‘s Marine Diffusion Dunqurkue on the water, who had sailed from France the previous night and despite some slick sail handling, were unfortunate with the unpredictable wind early in the race. It was the Impala’s that stole the day, with Volante (Paul Glover and Malcolm Flory) coming first on handicap, and Scallywag II and Reaction taking second and third place respectively.

Cruiser Class 5 & 6
The weather forecast today gave the race officer a difficult task; the wind was forecast to begin northerly, diminish and then swing round to the south. Knowing this, the race officer for the Cruiser fleet set a course down to B2, then to Rally Design and back via B2 with a loop to finish. His intention being to get round B2 before the tide and wind changed. This however was not to be, and the fleet arrived at B2 with only a few boats – Sydney II, Surprise and Magnum - managing to creep onto the bank before the tide changed. The fleet was stationary for two hours, but eventually the wind set in from the south and all boats got out of the tidal stream, either along the coast or the bank. By now Sydney II, Surprise and Toucan had rounded Rally Design and were heading home. The fleet then enjoyed some good racing for the remainder of the afternoon.

In Cruiser Class 5, Lance Stevens’ Grand Soleil 50, Sydney II, took line honours, but was beaten on handicap by Surprise (Frank Martin), who took first place, with Arthur Freeman’s J92, Jazz taking second place and Mick Ward’s First 31.7, Toucan taking third.

S Jones’ First Class 10, Mirage, took line honours in Cruiser Class 6, winning the race with Rush (Kenneth Lees) second and Mallard (Howard Bates) third.

 

Day 1

Sunshine and a steady 15 knots of breeze greeted the competitors for the first day of Vattenfall Ramsgate Week. The week began with a mini coastal series, taking place from Monday to Wednesday for IRC Classes 1 and 2, with one race per day. Cruiser Classes are treated to one coastal race a day from Monday to Saturday, with courses taking them along the scenic coastline stretching from Sandwich to Botany Bay. Sponsors for the day are Aktrion and Business Computer Solutions

IRC Class 1

IRC Class 1 got off to a good start. Peter Jackson on Assassin took the seaward route and was first to the Deal Bank mark. Kokokai, the First 44.7, was four boat lengths behind. Deal Bank was a bare away and set, by which time the breeze was up to 20 knots, gusting 25 South Westerly. It was an exciting close reach from Deal Bank to Deal Dolphin and a broad reach spinnaker run from Deal Dolphin to Rally Design. After the Rally Design mark, the X35 Xwaves was the only boat that managed to hold their spinnaker to the next mark. It was a close reach to finish where Xwaves flew their spinnaker and closed the gap with Kokokai. By this time the wind was up to 30 knots. Kokokai took line honours in the three hour race. Kokokai won the race, with Xwaves coming a close second on corrected time and Assassin third.

IRC Class 2

IRC Class 2 began the race with a six mile foul tide beat. The first boat to round the windward mark was John Allen's X302 Antix, closely followed by the X99 Xpedite, with Reaction third. Class 2 enjoyed a long spinnaker run along the Sandwich Coast line. The race was won on corrected time by the Impala 28, Reaction sailed by Paul Woodward and John Barratt. Antix was second, with Scallywag II third.

Cruiser Classes 5 & 6

Both Cruiser Class 5 with the use of spinnakers prohibited and Class 6 with no sail restriction sailed the same course for the first day of Vattenfall Ramsgate Week. The course took them inshore to Stonar, before heading south down to Deal Dolphin. The wise half of the fleet decided to take inshore to take advantage of the slacker tide, splitting the fleet. There was a three knot tide at the Downs, and some boats round it hard to round the mark. The final leg took the fleet the inshore route to Rally Design, back down to Stonar and finish. The wind, at times, was up gusting up to 25 knots, which was more than forecast and there were some breakages in the fleet.

In Class 5 Lance Stevens' Grand Soleil 50 Sydney II took line honours to win the race, with Frank Martin's Dynamic 37 Suprise taking second place and Hugh Cripps Impala 28 Sunbird taking third.

Class 6 was won by Kenneth Lees Sigma 35 Rush, with Mirage and Mallard taking second and third respectively.