Yachts & Yachting – August 2019

Previous spread

HP30 Pegasus

enjoyed close

competition until

the final race

Above

Quarter Ton start,

race five; the class

was eventually

won by Louise

Morton and

crew on Bullet

Below

J/70s fleet start,

race five, with

overall winner

Eat, Sleep, J,

Repeat third from

right (GBR1127)

get a race in,” Southworth commented

aerwards. “We changed places a

number of times – it was nip and

tuck all the way with Aguila and

Bullet – very interesting racing.”

In the rst start the following day

Aguila, Bullet and Tony Hayward’s

Blackfun lined up together on the line,

but just before the gun Aguila and

Blackfun bore away hard, leaving Bullet

as a premature starter two lengths ahead.

At the nish Julian Metherell’s Bullit

held a lead of 18 seconds on Southworth,

which reduced to just eight seconds

aer time correction. Morton nished

seven seconds behind Southworth to

take third on the water and on corrected

time. She then notched up a pair of wins

and a second place to take the overall

lead at the end of the second day, but

only one point ahead of Southworth.

e rst race of the nal day saw

the four leading boats blasting across

the nish line in only 14 seconds.

Southworth and Metherell took equal

rst places aer both scored exactly

the same corrected time. Morton was

third just three seconds adri, and

Aguila fourth eight seconds later.

is shued the overall leaderboard,

with Morton dropping into second

place, but only half a point behind

Southworth. However, Morton got the

better of him in the next two races,

winning each one by a decisive margin

and taking overall victory by 1.5 points.

“I’m really pleased,” said Morton. “Sam

has dominated the class for a long time,

so I’m very happy to win this trophy

back. We’ve had incredibly close racing

and the race team has done really well

to get eight good races completed.”

HP30

Glyn Locke’s Farr 280 Toucan asserted

early dominance in the HP30 class, with

a 1, 2, 1 scoreline. However, he nished

the next race almost two minutes adri

of the leaders, taking h place. In the

next race he started prematurely, despite

attempting to duck behind the line

before the gun, and hadn’t recovered

by the end of the rst lap, rounding the

leeward gate before even hoisting the

jib. Nevertheless he had an impressively

fast second lap, nishing second on the

water, behind Tim Cunlie’s Farr 30

Insatiable and a length ahead of another

Farr 30, Malcolm Wootton’s Pegasus.

e top three boats went into the nal

day separated by only four points. at

day’s rst race saw an incredibly tight

nish in a building breeze and the eet in

full planing mode. Sture Wikamn’s MC31

Vitres led the eet, but as the highest

rated boat he failed to beat Pegasus,

Toucan and Insatiable on corrected time.

With the top three teams now only

two points apart, the pressure was on

for the nal two races. Toucan’s crew

rose to the challenge, winning both

races and taking overall victory by a four

point margin. A pair of second places

for Pegasus sealed Wootton’s second

place overall. “It was a really great event,

with such close racing,” says Locke.

FEATURE VICE-ADMIRAL’S CUP

ALL PHOTOS: RICK TOMLINSON/RORC

T

he Vice Admiral’s Cup has

a reputation for producing

tantalisingly close, quick-

re racing for a variety of

one-design classes and level

rating or ‘box rule’ type eets, including

Performance 40s and Quarter Tonners.

is year was no exception and the three

day regatta saw many changes of leader

across every class, with 23 dierent boats

achieving at least one race win and 46

scoring at least one podium nish.

e format tests many elements

of performance – upwind speed,

pointing, tactics, boat handling and

more, with the smallest mistakes all too

frequently exacting a heavy penalty.

e opening day, on which six of the

eight classes were racing, was a very

light airs aair. However race ocers

Stuart Childerley and Paul Jackson both

managed to get one race away on their

respective courses during the 80 minutes

that there was a reasonably reliable

breeze. Aer a 1.5-hour postponement,

the second day saw four races completed

for all classes, in testing conditions

averaging 10-12 knots, but with some

lighter holes and a rain squall that

provided excitement downwind when

gusts rapidly rose to over 20 knots.

e nal day was mostly light, but

race ocials still got two or three

races away for each class. e race

teams won universal approval for

getting an exciting series of racing

completed in what had appeared to

be a very unpromising forecast.

QUARTER TONNERS

As usual the Quarter Ton class saw

exceptionally close competition, as

well as new names, including Sir

Keith Mills, former owner of the Fast

40+ Invictus, who had borrowed

Rob Gray’s Cote for the event.

On the rst day Ian Southworth’s

Protis, Sam Laidlaw’s Aguila and

Louise Morton’s Bullet had a close

tussle all the way around the course.

Southworth held a one-length lead on

Aquila at the end of the second 0.9-

mile beat, with Bullet following close

behind, ahead of Tom Hill’s Belinda.

On the nal leg Southworth extended

the lead to 44 seconds, taking both

line honours and victory on corrected

time. Bullet was second on the water,

seven seconds ahead of Aguila, but

dropped to third on corrected time, a

result Morton was later able to discard.

“It was a tough, light airs Solent

mixer and the team did very well to

66 Yachts & Yachting August 2019 yachtsandyachting.co.uk