Thornbury Regatta - 29th and 30th June 2013 - Travellers Trophy Event

[Hayley_Trim]

Draft match report as a result of train journey to London this evening. Any amends welcome.

Thornbury Regatta 2013

True to form, Thornbury kept things interesting and mixed it up a bit. When the Friday night arrivals crawled from their tents on Saturday morning, they were met with warm sunshine and not a breath of wind.  However the race officer was confident and set the fleets off as planned. Those of the fast fleet not initially going backwards with the tide soon realised that this was only due to being partially stuck in the mud.  The light airs suited Paul and Peter Jenkins who had defected to a Merlin Rocket pending the return of Cool Beans from her Island makeover, and they stormed ahead. Madge and Sweet Dreamzz started well and made good progress tacking up the shoreline.  The wind began to pick up and Usagi and E-Numbers showed some good speed, Usagi eventually overhauling the Merlin on the final leg.

By the start of the second race there was a firm breeze and the tide had turned so the upwind shoreline tacking battle was over. The race officer had also kindly removed the tricky “Pill” mark from the course which had resulted in a few connections with the mud on crucial gybes.  EJ and Usagi had good starts, Usagi arriving first and Poppy second to the top mark. The broad reach across to the middle of the channel was interesting (particularly if you happened to have a T-foil that turned itself on and off at will) and there were some happy kite runs with wind against tide providing a few speed humps.  Usagi maintained her dominant position with E Numbers in 2nd, EJ 3rd and Poppy 4th.

Thornbury’s renowned hospitality lived up to its billing on Saturday evening with good home-cooked food and numerous boxes of the local brew devoured. The musical entertainment made a good effort at rivalling the larger festival going on a little further south west. 

Sunday dawned grey and cool to the sound of flapping tents. Paul Croote arrived with steel in his eyes and fire in his belly, while others wavered in their resolve as the race officer announced it was 25 knots and building. Nick and Ade teamed up in Madge for some 97 rules fun;  Paul and Peter went for it in the Merlin; Phil and Sarah jumped ship into their Ent; and Paul and Ed manfully guided Marmite round the course. Except it was unfortunately the wrong course, and the Merlin and Madge were similarly foxed.

One race was enough for most people, but Phil and Sarah managed the second as well, earning them prizes in the slow handicap as well as the fast.

Despite the navigational error, Crootie and Ed’s effort was recognised with a prize, courtesy of the event receiving funding from Yachts and Yachting.

So a fun weekend, and many thanks to Thornbury for a warm welcome as always.
Final Cherub results:

1.   Usagi
2.   E-Numbers
3.   Madge
4.   EJ
5.   Sweet Dreams
6.   Marmite
7.   Poppy
8.     Loco

[phil_kirk]

Great write up H.  If it makes everyone feel a bit better Sarah and I both ache this morning. We also both have a cold and bruises and Alex woke in the middle of the night again!

I'm not sure if anyone noticed but we had better upwind speed than the Harvey's in their RS200 although they appeared to be pointing much higher. Downwind they had better pace when going in the right direction ie. the reach from middle to Plantation although not enough to make up for the extra distance sailed on the run to middle. 
We really enjoyed the conditions on Saturday and were please to get through all the gybes.   

[roland_trim]

We really enjoyed the conditions on Saturday and were please to get through all the gybes.   

It was an event where being an occasional local was actually detrimental. Both Marmite and Poppy dispatched crews around the forestay when hitting mud banks that were definitely not there last year :-) It did remind us that we need to sail more at our summer club.

Team Trim dead happy with the weekend. Boat is fantastic, first time she has seen proper wind and lumps.  Phil - hope you  saw that the rudder attached we were gybing for fun even in the lumpy stuff. It was nice to reach the top mark with company. We'll not mention the T-foil random setting function or that we managed a couple of reaching legs the rudder blade clear of the water or prove again that if the T-foil turns on half way through a gybe or you hit mud mid-turn the result is inevitable. Fix already in place for Weymouth (thanks Croote).

Also a big thanks to Nigel for transport and Andy W. for the sticky bit of Spanish Inquisition's mast repair. Second hit is on and baking as I type (in other news - my builder can now laminate).

[phil_kirk]

Are we putting a report on Y&Y.  There were some various photos on Thornbury's facebook page.

[andy_peters]

The first course was a bit interesting and lots of short tacking up the shore.  At least the wind filled in towards the end so we were able to pass Paul and Peter on the water if not on corrected.  Second race was ideal Cherubing conditions and course, like sailing in liquid chocolate (though I wouldn't recomment a mouthful).  Sunday - well we were changed and ready until the PRO's briefing had the effect he intended.  Turned out to be a wise decision to help others and not ourselves onto the water.

Looking forward to Weymouth.

[paul_croote]

Had a great time, had forgotten how much fun Thornbury sailing is. I do think I need to get some glasses, I spent what seemed like an age stood on the centre board trying to spot the bottom mark before watching someone round the mark next to me. Being a Muppet I decided to follow them  . Looking forward to Weymouth and maybe sailing the right course for a change!

[phil_kirk]

I'm not sure that the mud banks move significantly however as the tide comes in you don't notice them as much.

BS.  I did notice that you were going well and were ahead of us for a while.  All the practice has been paying off.

[Hayley_Trim]

Couple of pics - thanks to Rob at Thornbury