Musto Skiffs at Itchenor Sailing Club's Firecracker Weekend

Sam Barker during the Musto Skiff UK Nationals © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The final event of the UK southern circuit took place last weekend at Itchenor Sailing Club (ISC) as part of their annual Firecracker weekend. For those of you who haven't visited ISC before, you're missing a trick: one of the most welcoming clubs in the country, great race management, and excellent facilities.

Saturday dawned with an early 10.30am start to get the tide right and an east north easterly wind with the course set just to the east of East Head. This presented a world of tactical options with the still flooding tide and the wind bouncing around off the shore, something that would be in attendance for both days. We shared the course with the 14, RS200, and XOD classes, which also made for some interesting tactical situations!

The first race set the standard for the weekend. The need to get a good clear lane off the start line saw Andy Tarboton and Graeme Oliver starting on port to try and get to the right-hand shift first. Halfway up the beat, it looked like they would be top two at the mark, but with the strong tide and shifts everywhere, Tarboton just cleared the chasing pack with Oliver 10 boat lengths back buried in the early teens. Josh Belben pulled through well with Sam Barker and Dan Vincent, and the four duelled out to the finish, with Tarboton taking the win.

Race two followed a similar format but with a curve ball of a big shift midway down the first run. This split the fleet and allowed Barker, Andrew Gould, and Brian Greensmith to benefit, with Barker going on to a fly-away victory with Gould and Greensmith just holding off the charging Oliver and Tarboton.

Again, race three had some snakes and ladders, with Barker pulling off a miracle recovery from a poor start and getting the shift of a lifetime to get back into the top 3 at the first mark, with Mark Cooper leading having come in from the port lay line with Andrew Gould and Steve Robson (incidentally sailing a 20+ year old boat!).

The fleet was so tightly packed that it meant the gybe lines were critical, with gusts coming off the shore changing the angles on the lower part of the run. Oliver and Barker nailed the lay line to lead, with Tarboton doing well to work his way back through after getting the wrong side of the shift. Oliver and Barker duked it out up the beat, with Barker getting a better final shift and going on to take the win from Oliver and Tarboton.

Race 4 was a straight-out fight between Cooper, Vincent, Barker, and Tarboton, each having their time at the front in the shifting breeze, but Barker again pulled through to take the bullet from Oliver, who worked the shifts well up the second beat, and Vincent showed good pace and tactics to take third.

So, after day one, the consistency of Barker leading saw Barker, Tarboton, and Oliver making up the top 3.

2024 Firecracker Weekend at Itchenor SC - photo © Graeme Oliver

The fleet then faced a leg-burning sail home against the tide to be met by a beer, roaring fire, and dinner at the club. After 5.5 hours on the water, it was a welcome sight!

Day two started with a bit more breeze as forecasted but dropped off slightly as the day progressed back to similar conditions to Saturday. Three races to test the nerves.

Race 5 showed an incredible similarity to race 4, shifts and gusts off the shore moving anything up to 30 degrees, so having the ability to tack well and get in phase was the biggest focus. Eyes out!

Barker, Greensmith, and Tarboton led the way, with Vincent and a recovering Oliver catching fast to keep the front three on their toes. Barker took the win from Tarboton, with Greensmith following in behind.

Race 6 was full of snakes and ladders, the downwinds allowing for big gains if hooked into the right gust. Tarboton led the way with Oliver and Brennan Robinson in the chasing pack. On the second beat, the shifts started to dominate the game, with Oliver and Barker playing them the best to take over the lead. Barker gybe hoisted into a beauty of a shift/gust, pulling him clear from Oliver (having managed to make spaghetti out of his kite halyard) and Robinson. However, halfway down the run, Barker had an "altercation" with a cruiser and binned it into windward, leaving Robinson in the lead; however, Oliver had managed to soak down in the gust and take over the lead by the leeward mark.

The third lap allowed Oliver to extend and take the bullet, only to find that he hadn't ducked back quite enough on the startline. He scored OCS, allowing a very grateful/shocked Robinson to take the win from Vincent and Tarboton, with an improving Nathan Stainer and Mark Cooper all finishing in a pack and Barker swimming his way back to 11th.

For the final race, Barker needed to pull a decent result after his 11th. With Tarboton, Oliver, and Vincent in reasonable touching distance, he couldn't afford another double digit. To this point, Tarboton took the opportunity to make life difficult for Barker, and with Stainer, Vincent, and Oliver all in the lead pack, it made for a fantastic race with the lead pack taking it in turn to lead, but with the final throw of the dice, Barker broke free to lead to the finish.

Sam Barker (1st) 2024 Firecracker Weekend at Itchenor SC - photo © Graeme Oliver

Andy Tarboton (2nd) 2024 Firecracker Weekend at Itchenor SC - photo © Graeme Oliver

Graeme Oliver (3rd) 2024 Firecracker Weekend at Itchenor SC - photo © Graeme Oliver

So, the scores show that Barker took the win from Tarboton, and Oliver just nicked it by a point from Vincent in fourth. Some amazing racing right through the fleet, often with groups of boats crossing the line making life hard for the race team! A huge thanks to Itchenor Sailing Club, Roger Ewart-Smith, PRO, and his team for setting the standard on how a race weekend should be run.

Overall Results: