The Boxing Day Race at the Downs SC was held in aid of the RNLI, who kindly provided safety boat cover for the race. Receipts from the entry fees and raflle were donated to the RNLI. Although the temperature was chilly, the gentle Easterly breeze and calm sea provided ideal conditions for the race which attracted 18 entries. the wind dropped just before the start, leaving some boats shy of the line. Steve and Katie Restall were away the quickest, with Richard White close behind. The second leg was a reach towards Dover with the tide followed by a second reach back to the start line set just off the club. The brother and sister pairing of Chris and Nikki Catt were keeping up with the faster boats followed by a clutch of Buzzes, headed by Ed and Sarah Styles who were passed by Simon Cory and Clare Hansen on the penultimate lap. Further back, Chris Dutton and John Cass were having a close battle with the former winning out on the last lap. At the finish, Steve and Katie Restall had pulled out a good lead to take the trophy.
Results: 1st Steve and Katie Restall (Buzz) 2nd Richard White and Martyn Styles (RS400) 3rd Chris and Nikki Catt (RS200) 4th Simon Cory and Clare Hansen (Buzz) 5th Ed and Sarah Styles (Buzz) 6th Chris Dutton and Martyn Wyman (Buzz)
Winter sunshine and a moderate Force 3 South-Westerly breeze attracted a fleet of 21 boats for the 7th race of the Winter Series. The race officer set a start towards Ramsgate and a change of wind direction just before the start meant that several boats had to hurriedly drop their spinnakers. Richard White and Steve Restall were ahead at the first mark with Chris Shelton close behind. The next leg was a broad reach towards Dover against the tide with the asymmetric boats having to gybe a couple of times. The leg back inshore was a beat which with the tidal effect was mainly on starboard tack. Frank Catt was keeping in touch with the faster boats and further back Roger Phillips was also going well. Ed Styles was passed by Simon Cory on the last lap following a collision at the mark. Richard White and Steve Restall remained ahead but not far enough to prevent Chris Shelton from taking his second victory of the series.
Results 1st Chris Shelton (Phantom) 2nd Steve and Katie Restall (Buzz) 3rd Richard White (RS400) 4th Roger Phillips and Atticus Hansell (Laser 2000) 5th Frank Catt and Judy Restall (RS200) 6th Simon Cory and Claire Hansell (Buzz)
In contrast to the Winter Gales that had put paid to sailing for three weeks, Sunday dawned bright and sunny with a moderate Force 3 South-Westerly breeze and a fleet of 16 boats put to sea for the 6th race of the Winter Series. The three leaders in the series, Richard White, Simon Cory and Ed Styles were all on equal points and so competition was fierce at the front of the fleet. The race officer set a running start towards Ramsgate and the leading bunch gybed out to sea where they found more wind. Simon Cory and Steve Restall were ahead at the first mark with Ed Styles close behind. The next leg was a reach out to sea followed by a long beat with the tide towards Dover. The leg back down towards Ramsgate was another reach and the spinnaker boats were able to make good speed planing over the tide. Ed Styles managed to pass Simon Cory, but Steve Restall remained in the lead. Further back, the two RS500s of Mark Styles and Jeremy Blackman were having a close battle until Mark capsized on the beat allowing Jeremy to pull ahead. The wind increased to Force 4 and the tide turned for the last lap. Richard White was up with the leaders until his spinnaker halyard jammed, unable to drop the sail for the beat he had to capsize the boat and cut the halyard to release it. On the final leg he had a desperate battle with Mike Heeley, who had the advantage of the spinnaker, and just managed to keep a nose ahead on the finish line.
Results 1st Steve and Katie Restall (Buzz) 2nd Ed and Sarah Styles (Buzz) 3rd Simon Cory and Nathan Brazil (Buzz) 4th Frank Catt and Judy Restall (RS200) 5th Chris Shelton (Phantom) 6th John Cass and Julia Brazil (Buzz)
Strong Winds led to the cancellation of Sunday’s racing, but almost 100 club members gathered the evening before for the annual prizegiving at Downs Sailing Club. The prizes were spread over a wide range of club members, with the father and daughter team of Ed and Sarah Styles picking up the largest haul, closely followed by Steve and Katie Restall. Special mention should go to the youngest prize-winner, Nathan Brazil who won the Commodore’s Cup in competition against more senior adversaries.
Autumn sunshine and a moderate Westerly breeze attracted 17 boats for the third race of the Winter Series at Downs SC. Luckily, the forecast gales were delayed until Sunday evening and did not interrupt the racing. The start of the race coincided with high tide which was flowing towards Ramsgate and launching of the rescue boat was spectacular due to the steep cliff of shingle that had been built up last week. The first leg was a reach towards Dover and the RS400s of Richard White and Mike Heeley were first out of the blocks. The Buzzes of Simon Cory and Chris Dutton were also well to the fore. The next leg was a run out to sea and the asymmetrics were not able to pull away from single handers, especially the Phantom of Chris Shelton which was keeping pace with the faster boats as was the RS200 of Frank Catt. The beat back inshore became rather one sided as the wind swung more to the South-West. Steve Restall pulled ahead of the other Buzzes and Ben Hills in a Laser kept the faster boats in his sights but it was another singlehander, Chris Shelton who took the race by a good margin on handicap.
1st Chris Shelton (Phantom) 2nd Richard White and Martyn Styles (RS400) 3rd Frank Catt and Judy Restall (RS200) 4th Steve and Katie Restall (Buzz) 5th Simon Cory and Annie Smith (Buzz) 6th Ben Hills (Laser)
Autumn sunshine and a moderate Westerly breeze attracted 15 boats for the first race of the Winter Series at Downs SC. The start of the race coincided with high tide which was flowing strongly towards Ramsgate making the first leg a short fetch to the windward mark. This kept the fleet close together and the slower boats kept up on the following run too with Chris Shelton in a Phantom and Ben Hills in a Laser in touch with the leading RS400 of Richard White and Buzz of John Cass. However the third leg was a long reach against the tide which allowed the Asymmetric boats to use their spinnakers to full advantage and pull ahead. Ed and Sarah Styles pulled through the fleet to take the lead for a short while. The wind increased steadily throughout the race leading to some spectacular speeds on the offwind legs and the odd capsize. Simon Cory recovered from a poor start to take third position, followed by Chris Dutton and Martin Wyman who were trialling a new set of North sails.
Results 1st Ed and Sarah Styles (Buzz) 2nd Richard White
and Martyn Styles (RS400) 3rd Simon Cory and Annie Smith (Buzz) 4th Chris Dutton
and Martin Wyman (Buzz) 5th John Cass and Julia Brazil (Buzz) 6th Chris Shelton
(Phantom)
Autumn sunshine and a brisk North-Westerly breeze attracted 18 boats for the Pursuit Race at the Downs SC on Sunday. The race officer had set a short triangular course which saw the boats flying their spinnakers on the first two legs, followed by a long beat against the tide. There was both more wind and more tide out to sea and so it was debatable whether to tack inshore out of the tide early or late. Nigel Cureton in a Contender started early and was only passed by the Laser 4000 of Mitch Webb and Rick Clemence although Roger Phillips sailed a tidy race to beat both of them. Nathan Brazil in a Topper was going well kept ahead of the faster boats until the final lap.
Results: Pursuit Race 1st Roger Phillips and Clare Stubbs (Laser 2000) 2nd Mitch Webb and Rick Clemence (Laser 4000) 3rd Nigel Cureton (Contender) 4th Nathan Brazil (Topper) 5th Chris Dutton and Martin Wyman (Buzz) 6th Chris Shelton (Phantom)
The wind had decreased slightly for the handicap race. In the fast handicap, the off-wind start led to bunching at the first mark with the faster Laser 4000 and B14 of Mitch Webb and Richard White respectively pulling away. In the Buzzes, Simon Cory initially led, but was passed by Steve Restall, who was recovering from a bad start. Ed and Sarah Styles were testing a prototype new set of sails from North and despite having some teething troubles with the spinnaker managed to bag 3rd place. Further back Mike Heeley, Nigel Cureton, John Cass and Chris Dutton were swapping places until Nigel fell back after a couple of capsizes. Chris and Martin eventually won through after finding a big lift on the penultimate leg. In the slow handicap Frank Catt overcame a stiff challenge from Roger Phillips to take the race.
Fast Handicap 1st Steve Restall and Annie Smith (Buzz) 2nd Simon Cory and Zara Brazil (Buzz) 3rd Ed and Sarah Styles (Buzz) 4th Chris Dutton and Martin Wyman (Buzz) 5th John Cass and Julia Brazil (Buzz) 6th Mitch Webb and Rick Clemence (Laser 4000)
Slow Handicap 1st Frank Catt and Katie Restall (RS200) 2nd
Roger Phillips and Clare Stubbs (Laser 2000) 3rd Chris Shelton (Phantom) 4th
John Sharvill and Helen Stubbs (Laser 2000) 5th Rob Freeland (Laser)
A brisk Southerly breeze had filled in for the start of the Pursuit Race at the Downs SC on Sunday. The race officer had set a short triangular course which saw the boats flying their spinnakers on the first off-wind leg, however as the tide turned the reach became too tight to allow this. Nigel Cureton started early and was never passed whilst Roger Phillips kept ahead of the faster boats to take 2nd place.
There was a delay before the Points race as the course was changed to Windward/Leeward for the faster boats. The wind had increased in strength for this race as had the tide, making the beat towards Dover a slow leg. The boats kept close inshore out of the tide which meant frequent tacks and the odd capsize in the gusts. The off-wind leg, in contrast was over very quickly, with the boats planing out to sea, then gybing once to reach the mark. Steve Restall and Annie Smith kept close enough to Richard White to take the honours with Ed and Sarah Styles in third place. Frank Catt and Judy Restall won the slow handicap whilst Clare Hansell did well to finish the course in a Topper to take third place behind Roger Phillips.
Results:
Pursuit Race 1st Nigel Cureton (Contender) 2nd Roger Phillips and Atticus
Hansell (Laser 2000) 3rd Steve Restall and Annie Smith (Buzz) 4th Richard White
and Martyn Styles (RS400) 5th Ed and Sarah Styles (Buzz) 6th Chris Dutton and
Martin Wyman (Buzz)
Fast Handicap 1st Steve Restall and Annie Smith (Buzz) 2nd Richard White and
Martyn Styles (RS400) 3rd Ed and Sarah Styles (Buzz) 4th Chris Dutton and Martin
Wyman (Buzz) 5th Nigel Cureton (Contender) 6th Mike Heeley and Mark Hall (RS400)
Slow Handicap 1st Frank Catt and Judy Restall (RS200) 2nd Roger Phillips and
Atticus Hansell (Laser 2000) 3rd Clare Hansell (Topper)