Race Report - 13-15 June (RTYC 250th, Cory Cup)

Class Captain
Jun 15
4 min read

Updated: Jun 24

The Solent was ablaze as the Royal Thames Yacht Club put on one heck of a show for its 250th birthday party! With fireworks on Saturday night and dodgems to be played on the water, it felt like a heyday Cowes Week, with high-quality racing on all circuits and a buzzing regatta village at Cowes Yacht Haven.

While some classes started as early as Wednesday, the Darings (as part of the annual Cowes Keelboat Championships) raced from Committee Vessel lines on Friday, Saturday and Sunday (with Friday being designated a "friendly").

Friday 13 June

Four boats went to sail and in lovely conditions, Darling (Mike Greville) and Destroyer (Chris Preston) shared a win apiece, with Defender and Defiant also coming out to play.

I myself can't comment on the racing as, after spending the day at work, I watched boats coming home with a beer in hand from the Island Sailing Club. A number of Daring Association members met for drinks, and enjoyed a pleasant evening watching the sun lower on the top deck of ISC. Yours truly was then invited for a curry and then "TUDs" (totally unnecessary drinks) courtesy of Club Audax on the parade!

Saturday 14 June

It was windy! Started F4-F5 SW and built, especially as the tide turned westerly, to a steady F5. Small kites (in my opinion) were the order of the day. Racing on the Hill Head plateau, with the left extremity of the race course ending in the deeper main channel.

If anybody particularly wants to relive the committee vessel racing blow-by-blow, I'll direct you to the excellent tracking website here (click to fast forward to the first marker on the timeline, which is the start): https://www.metasail.com/live/718/

I can state though, from our perspective, what paid - or more to the point, where we lost it!

Basic boat maintenance. Checking shackles for loose pins, checking lines for chafe, and more! Make sure your kit won't let you down.
Starting at the favoured end. We prioritised clean air but at the cost of a 10 degree bias, and it hurt. Boats at the pin, and I'm looking at Darling in Race 1, started with two lengths in hand and it paid.
Sailing fast, and sailing your own race. Don't get sucked into matching one boat - keep going fast!

In the first race, Darling led for most of the race with Doublet, Destroyer and Dauntless not far behind. However, on the last leeward leg, Doublet sailed deeper and faster at first and executed a cleaner gybe to take the win.

Sadly come the second race, many boats had become a little frustrated at the time to turn around several fleets and so a reduced number raced. The boats maintained more or less the same positions as they started for much of the primarily starboard-oriented beat, with line bias being vital. Darius put in a good showing to make second place from Doublet and ahead of Destroyer, all of whom started at the CV. However, Doublet got their nose in front by a fraction on the beat and never looked back. Positions didn't change.

Sunday 15 June

With the same race area, it was slightly more moderate to start, and much earlier in the tide state. There was definite CV bias on the first race and Dauntless won the CV end, albeit with not great boat speed. Some boats tacked early to go right, according to the tide state, but others on the left did far better than expected. Doublet, more in the middle rather than far right, seemed to do well and came through in first.

Destroyer and Dauntless had more than one encounter at the top mark! On the first occasion, Dauntless shot the mark on an unsuspecting Destroyer, causing a minor touch of boats to Destroyer's loss, but on the second time Destroyer was bang on the layline and Dauntless too far under, with the shoot ending with a touch of the mark and turns for Dauntless.

Meanwhile in the first race, Doublet kept more or less a clean nose but not a great lead and, on the final leg, Destroyer powered through to take the win.

In the second, the line was more square and it could be observed that, in the fleets ahead, counterintuitively the left was paying (in the face of the tide?). Accordingly, many boats hit the port layline to come out looking good. Dauntless led the first lap but, with a knot in the spinnaker halyard and a snapped jib cunningham, they were slow out of the first leeward and Doublet, going for the right (southern) gate, came out a long way in front. Dauntless held second from Destroyer until the downwind leg, but excellent pace and execution saw Destroyer get through for second.

Summary

Congratulations to Doublet, representing R Southern YC, for winning the Cory Cup with three firsts and a second! They strung together a seriously impressive set of races putting barely a foot wrong. Rob, and Josh Voller on the helm, are an impressive team. However, they were pushed hard on every race, with a good range of boats competing hard at the front end of the fleet, which is very exciting to see.