Sponsored by The Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fisherman

Report thanks to June Collister

The Isle of Man Yacht Club’s Pico Match Racing Challenge was held on Saturday 22^nd September. This was the 3^rd year that the event, kindly sponsored by the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen, had been staged, and there was much hope that the weather would be fair, as the date had already been changed twice because of adverse forecasts. And, it didn’t disappoint – Saturday dawned with warm sunshine and a steady force 3, although the south-westerly wind direction provided some interesting shifty and gusty challenges to the 19 competitors who took part.

Race Officer, Russell Collister set 2 windward leeward courses side by side. Two pairings then raced simultaneously in order to accommodate the 36 races scheduled over the various Rounds. The conditions were perfect for Match Racing, whereby the two competitors try to outmaneuver each other to gain the advantage on the race course and to win their heat.

The short course racing, with two races underway at any one time, meant that there was always a lot happening, with competitors regularly swapping boats and preparing for their start sequences. The Yellow Peril, the Club’s small Committee Boat began to look more like its former incarnation as a lifeboat as it acted as the base for the competitors and the Race Officers – at one point having 16 people on board!

The competitors were put into four Groups of 4 and one Group of 3 and then sailed each other within their Group in Round 1. The winner of each Group then went through to the 2nd Round where they sailed two races each. Round 1 produced some very exiting and close racing, where umpire Mike Wilson had to keep a close eye on proceedings. Ben Swindlehurst, Stu Brew, Henry Foy, Ali Hinds, Jonathan Pooley and Chris and Katie Hill all took on the true spirit of Match Racing, aggressively trying to out-position their opponent during the start sequence as well as during the race. There were also some very notable, close-run races from Richard Adams, Ellie Best, Laura Green and Rachel Pooley and great enthusiasm from Jack Lakeman, Sammy Holt, Nick Parkes, Tom Anderson and the two youngest competitors James and Greg Kelly. Tim Parkes and Pete Barlow, also had good fun, although both are probably more used to slightly bigger rigs than the Pico’s.

With the 1^st Round over, and the winners – Chris Hill, Stu Brew, Ben Swindlehurst, Laura Green and Ellie Best, all raced again in the 2^nd Round. As forecast the wind was beginning to freshen a little by now. Ellie sailed very well and only narrowly missed out on a place in the Semi finals. First up in the Semi’s was Laura vs Ben. Laura, who had sailed well all day, gave Ben a real run for his money and only lost narrowly after having to take a penalty turn for an infringement. The other Semi between Chris Hill and Stu Brew was watched with much anticipation – the latter managing to maintain a slight advantage gained by starting at the Committee Boat end of the line.

And, so on to the Final – Stu Brew v’s Ben Swindlehurst – this was a great race and despite having arrived fashionably late at the start of the event, Stu Brew was now really into his stride. Despite Ben’s clear advantage on the downwind legs where he had excelled all day, Stu just managed to keep a boat length ahead to take the overall title on the day.

Thanks to all the Safety Boat crews and the all helpers on the shore for their invaluable assistance on the day and again to the Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen for their support of the event. See you all next year.

Results

• Winner:Stu Brew
• Runner-up: Ben Swindlehurst
• Semi-Finalists: Laura Green, Chris Hill
• 5th Place: Ellie Best

Pico Challenge 2007 Rd 1

Pico Challenge 2007 Rd 2

Pico Challenge 2007 Semi Final

Pico Challenge 2007 Final

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 at 6:31 pm and is filed under Race News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.