The Burnham Dragon fleet got their boats wet for the first time this season on Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th April. The traditional Easter Regatta was blown off in its entirety due to Storm Dave. The fleet decided to therefore hold the regatta a week later!
The idea was to have two back to back club races around the cans on each day. In the event the weather had other ideas and only two races were finished. Race 1 on Saturday was a cold, wet and windy affair. A special course was chosen to accommodate the fresh westerly wind, which was showing gusts of up to 25 knots at times. Neap tides meant that we could concentrate more on where the wind was coming from, but the long beats back to the finish line from the River Roach seemed to take a good deal of time to the frozen crews. Unfortunately David Warner’s ‘Dublin Bay’ had an equipment malfunction, so were unable to leave their mooring within the time limit and thus scored a DNS.
The rest of the fleet made good starts against the wind down toward the Burnham marina before turning and getting onto a long run down to the Clarkes buoy. It was nip and tuck but eventually the lead was taken by Ian Gray in ‘Still Crazy’ followed closely by Mark Wade in ‘Avalanche’ and then ‘Hands Off’ with Andy Moss. It stayed that way until the final rounding before heading home, when ‘Avalanche’ went fishing with their spinnaker, letting ‘Hands Off’ slip by into second place. By this time ‘Dublin Bay’ had come out to sail around behind the fleet with their renewed boat and he was able to fine tune against ‘Avalanche’, by now too far back to regain their second spot, on the return to the finish line. ‘Still Crazy’ won the race and was first back into the clubhouse, so the first to warm up!
Sunday dawned bright with a 17 to 21 knot southerly wind, which kept flicking around to the South West. Setting the course proved tricky and plans to run two short races were abandoned in favour of one long race, taking us into the Roach for some beats. The wind proved unreliable and the number of tacks remained stubbornly few for all. A running easterly start saw all four boats abreast for a good while along the ebbing River Crouch. There then followed some intense jockeying for position to round up into the wind at the first mark, Rubber Ball. It was ‘Still Crazy’ that popped out ahead, followed by ‘Avalanche’, ‘Hands Off’ and ‘Dublin Bay’. The fleet retained these positions until the last beat up the Roach to ‘Jubilee’, when ‘Hands Off’, sticking to the west bank, was able to squeeze past ‘Avalanche’ and into second position. The first three boats were now running back to ‘Branklet’ in close formation. As they hardened up for the beat home to the finish line ‘Still Crazy’ managed to hold ‘Hands Off’ at bay, at times a boat’s length behind, whilst ‘Avalanche’ remained a threat to both a short distance behind. At the line it was ‘Still Crazy’, ‘Hands Off’, ‘Avalanche’ and then ‘Dublin Bay’. The first three boats finished within 28 seconds of each other and all four within one minute. A good close race.
Prize giving in the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club took place over a glass or two and some lunch.
Burnham Dragon Fleet Captain, Tim
