There were 2000 reasons to watch Chichester sailing spectacular

The two-day event attracted some of the best 2000 sailors. This year 21 boats joined the start line for the event with crews travelling from Wales, Kent and all along the south coast.

Nick Colbourne assisted by wife Biddy ran the racing and received high praise from the competitors.

Over the first day, the top of the fleet saw a battle between Rob and Sarah Burridge and Steve and Sarah Cockerill with two races going to the Burridges and one to the Cockerills.

Miles Wade and Simon Horsfield demonstrated great downwind speed to take third place overnight.

Day two saw the wind increase, causing some canny sailors to rake their mast back, depowering their sails. The gusts caused a number of boats to capsize, keeping the CYC safety boats busy.

After the results were collected, the first prize and the Idun Trophy was won by the Burridges, with the Cockerills just two points behind. Wade, sailing with wife Anderley, broke the top two’s monopoly with a second place in the last race to cement third overall. Kev Obrien sailing with Sarah Burridge finished fourth.

The top CYC boat was that of Mike Linney and Giles Dixon, finishing ninth place overall, with Helen and Mark Green behind them in tenth. The Endeavour prize for the last place boat to complete all six races was awarded to Mike and Paula Olliff.

DELL QUAY

First-time race officer Bob Marshall, organising the long-distance Harding race for Dell Quay sailors, in a strong wind, split the course to Cobnor and back into three separate races,which kept the fleet together.

The first leg from was a beat from Dell Quay to the Westlands Buoy and entailed sailing close to CYC’s 2000 Open start line. The Solos of Mark Harper and Gordon Barclay and the Laser of M Gardner successfully avoided this obstacle to lead the fleet and finish in that order.

In the second leg, Corfield and Kies took the lead from Harper just before Itchenor. Gardner managed to overtake Harper to take second place on the water.

The return leg presented an exciting prospect of reaching back to Dell Quay in winds gusting over 20 knots. The RS400 of Peter King and Jamie Preston suffered a rudder problem which left Corfield and Kies to work their way through the fleet and cross the line first, despite a gybing capsize. Harper and Barclay were second and third on the water.

Results: Race 1- 1 Harper, 2 Barclay, 3 Gardner. Race 2 - 1 Harper, 2 Gardner, 3 Barclay, Race 3 - 1 Harper, 2 Barclay, 3 Hilgers (Solo).

SETTING SAIL

Column by Chris Blevins of Itcchenor Sailing Club

The season is well and truly underway at Itchenor Sailing Club and we are experiencing good turnouts from all supported classes. In addition to the weekend activity, our midweek racing for XODs and Swallows on Wednesday and Sunbeams on Thursday was well attended by members and guests.

Also, a number of new members have joined the club following our very successful open day in May.

June sees two of our premier weeks of sailing at Itchenor.

First is Points Week – a five-day event for our keelboat classes to enjoy competitive racing in the full expanse of Chichester Harbour at high tide. It is expected that more than 60 boats will compete in the three classes – XOD, Sunbeam and Swallow. The crews, friends and families will also enjoy a full social programme.

Second, at the end of June we will be hosting the 65th annual Schools Championships with teams coming from around the country. Entries are flooding in for the Feva, Firefly and International 420 classes and we are confident we will exceed the 150 entries from last year.

Our friends from Bembridge Sailing Club are visiting us next weekend with a fleet of Redwings and Bembridge One Designs. This annual event sees the Bembridge fleets, accompanied by a number of cruising yachts, race to Itchenor on Saturday morning.

They will then race alongside the Itchenor keelboats in the afternoon. After a good “run ashore” in the evening, on Sunday morning the Bembridge crews will race home and the Itchenor XODs will join them, planning to arrive in time for lunch.

* Chris Blevins is rear-commodore sailing at Itchenor Sailing Club. Read his Setting Sail column in the Observer and at www.chichester.co.uk monthly throughout the season.

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