Race Report Ajax National Championships 17 – 19th June
2002
Held in Dovercourt Bay and The River Stour
Organised by the Royal Harwich Yacht Club.
Sadly there were no visitors from the South West Fleet despite
early enthusiasm
The whole series was spent on flooding tides and working out the
different streams across the courses seemed to be quite important!
Friday
Wind SE F2 with some difficult chop. The three races were held in
glorious sunshine.
Race 1. Windward leeward course.
Storm Petrel and Pegasus led at 1st windward mark. Storm Petrel had a poor
hoist letting Pegasus and Thunderer through, Thunderer came through to
lead by sailing a higher rhumb line downwind. Pegasus
returned the favour upwind with a fast and high mode (a recurrently annoying
theme for the rest of the fleet for the whole weekend) and held on to the
finish with Thunderer second and Mandalay third.
.
Race 2.
Olympic course.
Orwell led from early on from Pegasus. Both sailed high on the first
reach and hoisted late with the tide taking the fleet down to the mark. The 2nd
leg of each triangle was very broad with the tide behind pushing us into
Harwich harbour. Orwell created a good gap through the race so Pegasus was
looking behind to protect 2ndon the last lap. Thunderer
put them under pressure at the final leeward mark contributing to a tangle in
the drop and Pegasus sailing the wrong side of the mark. Thunderer
finished second and Pegasus did well to hold on to third.
Race 3.
Olympic course. Pegasus led all the way round and backing
their upwind speed decided not to cover on the final beat .They headed to the
favoured left, stretching out to win. Thunderer
finished second. Orwell recovered from a
poor start to get back to third.
Saturday felt warm and pleasant
sailing downwind out of the harbour. It quickly became more windy and wet in
the waves needing considerable skill both to negotiate the waves and stay in
the boat.
The first race (4 in the series) at sea in 16-18
knots of wind from NE.
Race 4 Windward leeward 2
laps.
There was some pin bias at the start. Orwell started on port and
crossed the fleet. Dionysius tacked early and Thunderer
got the better of Pegasus on the first beat (almost the only time this happened
all weekend). The windward mark dragged to leeward and Orwell only spotted the
spreader up to windward after their bear-away. They still retained their lead
and didn't look back. Despite a hitting the windward mark Thunderer
held on to 2nd from Dionysius. The sea state made conditions more difficult
than the wind speed suggested and the Fleet were sent back inside the harbour
to the River Stour for races 5 and 6 in a surprisingly reduced breeze.
Guillemot and Prometheus had retired to the marina.
Race 5.
Olympic course. The pin bias resulted in Orwell
struggling to make the line and Pegasus was in the second row. Hermione led to
the left, Thunderer tacked off the line to lead at
the windward mark and round the first lap. The decision on the following beats
was between taking the shifts on the right hand side in an adverse tide, or staying further out of the channel. In hindsight the tide
wasn't as strong as feared. Orwell and Pegasus showed their class to sail
through the fleet to finish first and third with Hermione sneaking through to
finish second on the line.
Race 6 felt quite similar. Thunderer was OCS and had to return. There was a start line altercation between
Orwell and Polly Oliver but Orwell again managed to weave through the fleet
with good speed and slick manoeuvres. Pegasus snuck in to 2nd on the final
short beat to the line with an early tack out to the left. Hermione sailed well
to be third. There was much more snakes
and ladders than out at sea.
It was still wide open on the last day with only 1 discard in the
series but Orwell in the best position at the top
Sunday
Wind from NE but less breeze than
expected. Windward leeward courses for both races.
Race 7 The balance to be found
was between minimising tacks, finding the breeze and being on the right shift
for the first beat. Guillemot showed their years of experience in the light
airs to join the dots ahead of Storm Petrel for a very popular win. An early tack
on the last short beat towards the favoured pin end got Thunderer
3rd ahead of Pegasus.
We waited for the last race while the breeze eventually came back
in and settled.
Race 8.
Orwell had won the series with a race to spare so Pegasus focussed on keeping Thunderer in their sights. Both started at the favoured
committee boat end, with Pegasus yet again sailing a high, fast mode upwind to
gain a good gap to windward. Two well timed good tacks kept Pegasus in front at
the first mark (with Guillemot close behind) whilst keeping a close eye on Thunderer a few places back. A right hand bend on the
second beat favoured those that stood on from the leeward mark (particularly
Pegasus and Orwell, who climbed through to second). Thunderer
was stuck on the left with Guillemot, both feeling a bit sorry for themselves.
Orwell got past Pegasus at the top of the run with some slick boat handling
following a gybe hoist for the whole fleet. Puffin sailed well and finished
third.
Thank
you to Tom Dixon and the whole race team for impeccable race management in very
varied and sometimes awkward conditions.
James
Williams, Thunderer
Results
1st
Orwell V1 (57) Richard Merriweather 13 points
2 Pegasus
(29) Sian Goodman 16
3 Thunderer (14) John
Williams 22
4 Hermione (18) Geoff
Mayhew 33
5 Dionysius (71) Phil Mayhew 36
6 Mandalay (50) Giles Wright 36
7 Storm Petrel (65) Jackie Mckellar 45
8 Guillemot (20) David Mayne 48
9 Polly Oliver (17) Mike Clayton 60
10 Prometheus (62) Tim Archer 66
11 Puffin (23) David Pearce 67
12 Telamon (61) Gordon Sutton 91 (DNC)