Regatta Report - Andy Cassell Corinthian Regatta (29-30 August)

After much anticipation, the regatta organisers were looking concernedly at the forecast in the days leading up to the inaugural ACCR.

Unfortunately, the forecast was such that the regatta organisers decided it was better to allow competitors the certainty and abandoned Saturday's racing on Friday evening. This of course allowed everybody to enjoy the gin reception at Cowes Corinthian without needing to engage with a game of "met roulette"!

After a lay day and an enjoyable BBQ at the Club on Saturday night, expectations were high for a good day's racing on Sunday. With an early start of 10am, three races were scheduled - one "round the cans" from a committee vessel start, and two laid courses.

Race 1

Arriving at the CV in the vicinity of Hill Head, sailors found a strong flood tide at the start of the day and a stiff SW breeze. The first course took them to RORC (nr S Bramble); Contessa 32 Class (Starboard-pole run, ENE); John Fisher (drop, gybe and fetch NNW); Andy Cassell (beat back to just short of the Brambles Bank) and finish downwind at Hill Head.

The beats all day were characterised by seeming stability followed by occasional large shifts of 15 degrees or more, and it definitely paid to be on top of one's compass numbers. The layline to RORC proved very challenging. Most boats approached from the Starboard layline, aiming to stay out of the flood tide behind the Brambles Bank. However with most boats under-estimating how much the tide would build on the way into the mark and some boats needing to put in one or even, in some cases, 2 - 3 stitches up from what they thought was a safe layline.

At this point it wasn't clear to me who was doing particularly well. The usual suspects were up there - Darling, Dreamer, Dynamite...but it was all academic as the entire fleet followed the leader the wrong way on the fetch to John Fisher!

Having gone past the (admittedly small) mark some quarter- or half-mile prior, the lead boats arrived in the vicinity of 4J (hamblewinterseries.com) to their consternation. The flood tide up the Northern channel helping boats to eat up the miles may have contributed something to the mistake. Most boats, looking around in a panic, then latched onto a mark to their East (Royal Southern) and started to head for that. Meanwhile Dynamite turned fully around and correctly identified the mark well behind them, leading the fleet to almost invert.

Dauntless, sitting in second-to-last, cottoned on to Dynamite before others to take second place. The doubling-back meant that we had some challenges coming into the mark from the North as the fleets behind, many of whom had also followed us the wrong way, were also rounding the mark to Port.

However, all boats kept out of trouble and the fleet, now with some large gaps between boats, started on the beat to Andy Cassell.

On this leg, and most other windward legs for the rest of the day, there was a lot of overstanding going on. I reckon that after the challenges of RORC earlier, boats were (by design or by mistake) very prone to going beyond the layline while in fact most of the marks were less tidal, and the tide was indeed starting to slacken.

There was little action in the final legs, with Dynamite, Dauntless and Dreamer making up the podium with a minute between each boat.

Races 2 and 3

After fairly sharp turnarounds, we embarked on two laid-mark courses in a similar stretch of water. For various reasons, I was fairly head-in-the-boat at this time and haven't got a huge amount to comment.

However, in the two races Streak and Dreamer each picked up a first and a third to enhance their positions while Dynamite continued her good form with a second and a fourth.

Eventual results were recognise with a prizegiving at CCYC:

1. Dynamite (David Tydeman)

2. Dreamer (Giles Redpath)

3. Streak (Malcolm Lofts)

Streak, in particular, seemed to be starting well and making some sound boat-on-boat tactical calls while Dynamite was rock-solid under the spinnaker, whether gybing or sailing deep, as the wind built steadily to F5 or more at times. Dreamer seemed to be exhibiting her normal excellent boat speed.

Additionally, while not sailing a Daring today, Giles and Jane Peckham did well in their Flying 15 "FFLOSSIE", jointly winning the regatta overall.

With thanks to CCYC for an enjoyable new fixture on the calendar, and here's hoping for a reprise in 2027!