With 11 boats entered for the event, some crews had understandably hesitated travelling long distances due to the windy forecast. But on the last planned day of the event, 6 boats, 3 classics and 3 vintage, battled it through to the start line off East Head and the race team set us off on a sausage, triangle course around the western edge of the Chichester channel.
Overall, it was quite remarkable seeing this amazing fleet of vintage boats hold their own in some very testing conditions. Each crew returned to shore with a look of relief but clearly having enjoyed an incredible and memorable experience that they would take home with them and remember in those dark winter days. It is a testament to the original build quality and some significant investment and skill by subsequent owners, that these boats are all still able to not only sail, but also race in these gusty conditions.
Thank you to the Racing team, the Itchenor team and, of course, the class who put on a fantastic event and made us all feel very welcome. And, whilst restricted to one day's sailing, without any doubt, everyone enjoyed the socialising with new and old friends, being part of such a special event and drinking and eating far too much.
Overall Results:
Pos Boat Name Class Sail No Helm Crew R1 R2 (Old Boat POW) Pts
1st Seawitch Classic 935 James Vaughan Alastair Wilson 2 1 3
2nd Aquavit Classic 1048 Lyndon Beasley Ian Marsmae 1 3 4
3rd Sea Dragon Vintage 1156 Andrew Bates Andrew Bates 3 2 5
4th Sayonara Vintage 366 Paul Armitage Karen Armitage 4 4 8
5th Whirlwind Vintage 330 Edward Allen Bertie Wykeham 6 5 11
6th Daring Vintage 201 Jonathan Knight David Knight 5 RET 12
Next events are at Blakeney in September and then Trent Valley in October. Following that it will be time to plan in some events for 2024 which will include Rickmansworth, Blakeney, Trent Valley + hopefully another long POW weekend (currently scheduled to be the first or second weekend of June) and also a weekend at Grafham, the home of Daring, coming back onto the list.
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