Burnham Week 2024 Day 6
by Petru Balau 30 Aug 10:55 UTC
24-31 August 2024
Sunshine, confused wind, short tacking, town course and an East Coast One Design being introduced to the proverbial hospitality of the River Crouch's mud, the sixth day of Burnham Week.
The class 1 & 2 course sent them to their habitual playing grounds at the confluence of the rivers Crouch and Roach, where Phil Collard's Cobra added yet another win to their tally, while Digger Harden in Sorcerer retired.
Class 5 saw Jack Mills' Outlaw, the temporarily rechristened Royal Corinthian Yacht Club 707 with the Banksy-on-Crouch artwork displayed, took the win in front of the Corinthian Otters 707, the result setting the Corinthian Otters in second place overnight, behind Richard Taylor's Rondo.
After a very close start, the Class 6 race was won by Philip Harbott's Mantra, followed by Richard Moore's Ophelia, with Ophelia being top overnight, just one point away from Mantra, in second place.
The day boats, Dragons, Squibs and the three one design classes, had their start set on the Burnham Sailing Club line and heading up the river for the day.
The Dragons race consisted of laps around Cliff and Canewdon and the eventual winner was Mark Wade's Avalanche 722, with Peter Marchant's Beauty and the Beast 746 finishing as runners up.
The first of the two scheduled races of the day for the Royal Corinthian One Design 8 boats fleet, on a town course, to the delight of the shore onlookers, saw Clive and Graeme Page's Corpo Santo take the win ahead of Martin Makey's Corinna and Nick Bacon's Corella.
The second race, slightly shortened, saw Justin Waples' Cormorant have a better start and take a lead they kept to the end, while Corinna finished second and Corella in third.
Stephen Herring's Red Jacket added another win to their results list in the Royal Burnham One Design race, James Dallimore's Whimbrel finishing in second place and Will Dallimore's Mandarin in third.
The East Coast One Design race saw the 7 boats race all the way to Shortpole Reach, in what was meant to showcase the beauty of the river Crouch, however, the helm and crew of Gi Gi, a yellow hulled boat, decided to park on the Cliff Reach muds, for an afternoon of sunshine and river watching, waiting for the tide to fill in.
The race was won by the local boat Wizard, helmed by David Smith, followed by ECOD Association's Rhythm, with Dan Halley on the helm, the results making Wizard, Rhythm and Rhythm's Delphine the top three, with one point in between each boat.
The confused winds and the town course, laps around Fairway 13 and Fairway 3, in front of the three organizing clubs, saw the Squibs race one of the most entertaining of the regatta.
While the masters of short tacking and National Champions Micky "Five Pairs of Sunglasses" Wright and Alex Porteous, sailing on Spoof 811, did what they do best and won by a huge margin, things were much more complicated with the rest of the fleet.
A tactical blunder saw Guy Fawkes 72, Phillip and Marion Aspinall, pick the south shore on the way back to 13 and drop from the second position, allowing Ian Scott and Iona Martin on Squabble 854 and Ben Luddington and Bill Wright on The Black Pig 874 to go through, with Ian and Iona holding the second position to the end of the race.
Big heartache for Ben and Bill, who, despite holding the third position for most of the race, had to bow and drop to fifth at the end of the race.
The current leaders of the Squibs week, Ray Apthorp and Ian Simons, Nemesis 806, had a huge task ahead after a not so great first beat, yet, taking advantage of their knowledge of the river, clawed their way to third position, retaining their lead at the top of the overall results.
Results are available at www.burnhamweek.com/results-2024