WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY NIGEL SHARPAt times leading up to the three-day Falmouth Classics
weekend, the weather forecast was not at all favourable
but when it came to it – on the Friday and Saturday race
days at least – the rain held o and competitors were
able to enjoy cracking sailing breezes. A total of 189 boats
attended the weekend and, of these, 90 took part in the
three races. Four of the 12 classes were won by boats
that had a clean sweep of race victories: Charlie Hussey’s
Mat Ali (a Harrison Butler-design built in Malaya in 1935),
Lionel Hoare’s Mizpah (a 1994 replica of a ga -rigged
Seaview Mermaid), Miles Pinchin’s Cornish Shrimper
Sterren Vor and Nigel Reed’s Mirror 16 Sola.
In race one in the ‘Bermudans 35ft and over’ class there
was a dead heat on handicap:; the Starling Burgess-designed
1933 Binker and the 1951 Fred Parker-designed Phizz had
identical corrected times but it was Binker that went on to
claim overall victory.
The Ga ers 23ft-30ft class boasted two boats fresh from
extensive restorations carried out locally: Diccon Rogers’
1897 Kathleen, which managed a second place in the last
race, and Chris Harker’s 1912 Falmouth Quay Punt Curlew,
making her fi rst appearance under sail for three years. This
Curlew is not to be confused with the other Falmouth Quay
Punt of the same name which was made famous by the
exploits of Tim and Pauline Carr. As it happens she was
also competing in the same class which she won overall.
On Sunday morning the conditions were a little more
blustery which prompted the organisers to sensibly decide
that the Carrick Roads Parade of Sail should take place over
the shorter, more sheltered course and in the afternoon
several of the more diminutive vessels took part in the
Small Boats Parade o Custom House Quay.124 5Falmouth
Classic 2019
Out and about
Logbook
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