Above
Smiles on Rob
Kirby’s SB20
Carnage“We rounded some marks four abreast
and it was so tight we didn’t know we
had won until we saw the results.”
J/70
is class used the regatta as the third
round of its UK Class Grand Slam
Series, racing on just the Saturday and
Sunday. e eet was enthusiastic to
get away on their rst start, with ve
boats – Andrew Barraclough’s Jenga 8,
David Atkinson’s Rascal Racing, Patrick
Liardet’s Cosmic, reigning Grand Slam
champion Doug Streuth’s DSP and Adam
Munday’s Ocean Rope – all called OCS.
is le the way open for Paul Ward’s
Eat, Sleep, J, Repeat to pull out an
impressive 10-length lead by the end of
the rst beat – he then went on to nish
more than a minute ahead of Clive Bush’s
Darcey, while Cosmic took third just four
seconds later. DSP won the next race,
but slipped down to an uncharacteristic
11th in the third. e last race of the
day saw Darcey take a commanding
win, ahead of the ompson/Burlton
partnership’s Brutus. In the tightest of
nishes, Philip Rees Bryn took third
place just three seconds later, and DSP
fourth, seven seconds a er that.
e nal day saw very tight racing,
with all results decided by less than
one minute. Race ve went to Eat,
Sleep, J, Repeat by just 5 seconds from
Darcey. Ward won the next race as well,
cementing his overall victory ahead of
Darcey, while DSP took third overall.
SB20
Charlie Whelan’s Breaking Bod started
the event with an impressively consistent
series, with one win and four second
places. However, Christian Sutherland’s
Reach Around put in an even stronger
performance, with three straight rst
places, before slipping to h and
sixth the last two races on Saturday.
e eet went into the nal day with
Whelan holding a one point lead ahead
of Sutherland, while Rob Kirby’s Carnage
and Charles Sheppard’s Sharc were tied
four points further back for third place.
A further two wins on the nal day
sealed overall victory for Whelan, while
a pair of seconds for Sutherland saw him
take second overall by a comfortable
margin seven points ahead of Sharc.J/109
is class saw very close competition
between Chris Preston’s Jubilee and
Simon Perry’s Jirae at the head of
the eet, and between several boats
for mid- eet positions. e rst race
was held in a very shi y southwesterly
of 10-12 knots that created plenty of
tactical challenges in a tight race with a
short 0.8 mile windward leg. e eetstrongly favoured the committee boat
end of the line and the rst start was
abandoned with 40 seconds to go.
Last year’s overall winner, Jirae,
won this race, almost 30 seconds ahead
of Jubilee, while RNSA’s Jolly Jack Tar,
skippered by Philip Warwick, took
third 18 seconds later. However, Jubilee
started day two with back to back wins,
and took second in the next two races.
In the opening race of the nal day
both were neck and neck at the end of
the rst run, with Jubilee rounding the
mark inside Jirae. Jirae then had a
snag on the spinnaker drop and had
slipped astern by the time it was sorted.
In a tight nish that saw more than
half the eet cross the line in just 22
seconds, Perry’s team recovered to lead
by 12 seconds ahead of Jubilee, with Jolly
Jack Tar taking third place ve seconds
later. Jubilee won the nal race, but
Jirae took second, 19 seconds ahead
of John Smart’s Jukebox. It was enough
to seal overall victory for Jirae by one
point. A very consistent performance by
Jumping Jelly sh, with an almost straight
run of fourth places, secured third
overall, one point ahead of Jolly Jack Tar.J/111
e opening race was an intense one for
the J/111s, with two laps completed in
only 35 minutes, and the rst ve boats
nishing just 69 seconds apart. Joerg
Sigg’s Swiss Lallekonig took victory, 20
seconds ahead of Tony Mack’s McFly,
with Cornel Riklin’s Jitterbug third.
McFly asserted near dominance
the following day, taking two decisive
wins and two second places, yet at this
stage ve boats were in contention for
an overall podium place. However,
despite a points penalty for anAugust 2019 Yachts & Yachting 67