Race Results: The Burthem Trophy Date: 25/09/2011…………
Location: Fidlers Ferry sailing Club
1st Tommo hawk Falcon 44 Helm Tony Tomlinson
2nd Night hawk Falcon 35 Helm Adrian Dodd
3rd Redfoot Falcon 42 Helm Ian Scouler
Light southerly winds greeted the competitors at the start of the autumn season’s series of races at FFSC. 15 boats turned out for this early start at 10.30am with two safety boats in attendance. The light winds reduced leaving all of the fleet drifting backwards against the incoming tide and it was nearly 25 minutes before the first boat crossed the start line with some boats were unable to cross the start line for nearly an hour until strong winds filled in again allowing the boats to make headway.
Falcon 44 Tommo hawk made the break and slowly made for the first mark with only two other boats in pursuit Night Hawk 35 & Redfoot 42 whilst the others in the fleet made really slow progress.
With the increased wind speed all boats crossed the start line but for some the effort was too much and the task of closing the gap on the lead boats too great. 3 boats retired and a further 3 with gear failure reduced the fleet to less than half. Ernie Griffiths in his Laser Radial caught the 2nd & 3rd placed boats and was looking very dangerous until damaging a rudder which forced him to retire two marks from home. For the first time in the race boats 1st 2nd & 3rd were in sight of each other, but 2nd & 3rd could not make any impact on his lead.
With just 7 boats left in the race, it became an endurance race after 2 hours of race sailing and for some another hour of sailing to undertake before they reached the finishing line. No one could match Tommo Hawk 44 finishing in 2 hrs. and 10 minutes to take the trophy, with the second boat Night Hawk 35 finishing in 2hr 40 min followed by third boat Redfoot 42 in 2hrs 44mins.
Fourth boat home was Falcon 21 Condor who completed the course in 2hrs 59mins, a remarkable performance after a poor start.
The remaining fleet to their credit continued to race with novices Colin & Emma Flynn crossing the line in 5th place in there Kestrel dinghy only to be placed 6th when the GP 14 of brothers Steve & Richard Whitehead gained that spot on the handicap ruling. The hero of the day was Steve Wall and crew who finished the race in 3hrs and 27 minutes, and then went out again for a sail round???
Certainly this was not the best race of the season but certainly the most frustrating, with winds coming and going at the wrong time. Thanks to the safety boats teams for their support remembering they had been on the water over 4 hours, so the hot soup and mugs of tea were most welcome after the race.
The turnout for this race was excellent with such an early start, so a big thank you for all those who made the effort
Colin Howard, Sailing Sec
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