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Fotogalerie
July 9 2012
PERFECT CONDITIONS FOR ONE SAILS RACE DAY AT PANERAI BRITISH CLASSIC WEEK
There is nothing quite as beautiful as a classic yacht rail down with everything set on a sparkling day and to have 83 of them racing together is quite simply sublime. Fortunately the weather forecasters got it wrong for the Solent again today and the anticipated rain held off once more allowing the Panerai British Classic Regatta fleet to enjoy One Sails Race Day in a lovely 14-17 knot breeze from the west-south-west.
After yesterday’s massed start for the opening warm up race around the Isle of Wight, today the fleet was divided into six classes according to each yacht’s handicap and design and the formal race series began. Race Officer Tony Lovell and his team set courses around marks in the Central Solent that included a spanking run past Cowes for many of the yachts, giving the public ashore a chance enjoy the spectacle.
A combination of smart course planning and luck with the weather conditions meant that the classes converged on the finish in close order and the action on the finish line was almost as close and exciting as the start.
In Class 1, for the modern classic yachts, Stephen Jones’ Meteor put in a bravura performance to win his class by over seven minutes. Steven jokingly put their victory down to “Other people making more mistakes than we did.” but tactician Jonty Sherwill expanded saying “We got a spectacularly brilliant start! We had a nice ding-dong with Flight [of Ufford] right the way up on to the indexland shore. They called water on us just round Stone Point spit, which sent us off on starboard towards East Leap [the next mark of the course] so we thought we’d have a crack at it. They tacked back in and we made East Leap in one so we must have made a minute and a half there I think.” Ultimately Hugh Morrison’s 1997 Pedrick designed Savannah took second place with Sean McMillan and his crew aboard the Spirit 52 Flight of Ufford third.
“Very satisfactory.” was Jamie Mattheson’s comment on finding out that Opposition, his Sparkman and Stephens sloop originally launched as Morning Cloud for Ted Heath’s 1971 Admiral’s Cup campaign, had won Class 2. “Conditions were very good with flat water, we couldn’t have asked for more. It was extremely close. We were racing with Cetewayo all day, she’s very well sailed and a good boat to spar with.” And after all that sparring Cetewayo, David Murrin’s 1957 Laurent Giles sloop, took second in class with Golden Fleece, the 41’ bermudan sloop designed by Sparkman & Stephens and owned by Michael Wheeler, in third.
Fiona Brown
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Fotos: www.britishclassicyachtclub.org
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