Redwings at Cowes
After much deliberation over whether to sail or trail by road the 5 Poole boats entered for Cowes Week decided to sail from Lake Yard to Cowes on the last Thursday in July.
A favourable shipping forecast convinced us and off we set. An enormous thunder storm in the middle of Bournemouth Bay followed by increasingly strong winds was definitely not as forecasted.
An exhilarating sail and a nerve racking trip through Hurst accompanied by a strong flood tide resulted in an overall voyage time. Lake Yard to the Squadron line is just a little over 4 hours.
At Cowes, the 5 Poole boats raced against 21 boats from Benbridge over 8 days of racing. It was not our best year for results as we need consistent wind to keep up with the newer Benbridge boats who benefit from a slightly higher mast and a more advanced rig. In any case, we are very proud of our 1938 built boats.
Nick Holland came out top of the Poole fleet after some very exciting and close racing. It was a brilliant week and thoroughly enjoyed by all. Our return to Poole was very much more leisurely due to lack of wind with 3 boats enjoying a tow home and Dennis Moylan in Curlew choosing to sail in convoy with the Fastnet Race Fleet. Dennis managed to arrive at Hurst leading some of the hot classes. A spectacular photo currently in the Clubhouse proves this exploit.
The Poole Fleet are already planning for next years Cowes Week in August 2010.
More sailing news!…
Tony Toll recently enjoyed great success at the Cowes-Poole-Cowes race over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Here is his story…
As background, I purchased the boat in America nearly three years ago and although the boats’ preceding twenty year history was as a successful race boat we had really only intended to race her round Britain last year and thereafter use her for fun, regrettably we did not succeed in raising enough sponsorship so we did not participate in the race but have certainly had some fun.
Stuart, Trevor myself have spent many hours working on the boat installing new engines and generally re arranging everything so we could get some reliability which we have for the most part achieved and allowed us to fly around the bay at 80 MPH +and pop to Lymington for the odd quick lunch. This has been great, but as all of us are ex racers you never push as hard just going out for a ride as going out to race. We decided back in June to enter a race organised by the RMYC in aid of cancer research but did not compete due to an unexpected ignition problem, however despite this we raised nearly £700 for charity. Given our disappointment we agreed to enter a race from Cowes to Poole and back to Cowes and we had a great time.
We launched the boat on the Friday and travelled to Cowes in a force 6 gusting 7, fortunately it was a following sea so we were able to cruise there with minimal flying time to arrive for scrutineering before the race.
Saturday 10:30 was the start of our race which took us down the west Solent, out past the Needles, bridge and two bouys before heading across the bay to BP mark, back to Boscombe pier and along the coast to North head and back up the Solent to Cowes. The weather on Saturday morning was still blowing fairly well, sufficient that the organisers reduced our course from two laps to one. One of the Red Jet ferries was used as a start boat which escorted us from Cowes at 35 knots to Yarmouth at which point the flag dropped and we all set off at top speed towards the Needles. Our main competitor sped past us in the calm but as soon as we past Hurst castle it was a different story, there were 6 ft waves rolling in which at 80Knots gets your attention quickly, the completion slowed almost immediately and we soon took the lead as this was exactly the conditions our boat was built for, from this point we managed to keep in front all the way back up the Solent until about a mile from the finish when our main competition overhauled us running at 90knots. There was nothing we could do, we came in 2nd place which given that this was my first race in twenty years was truly great. Thanks to my crew Stuart, Trevor and Wenona a fantastic day was had by all and despite our best efforts a boat still in one piece!
Tony Toll continues Lake Yards long association and history of powerboat racing since our founder Tom Culpan's early days of racing his Chris Craft for Arthur Bray on the 1930s.
Lake Yard's Dorset Yacht Co with the Cox & Haswell designed Gay Gazelle for the very first Cowes - Torquay on 1961.
Members of the Culpan family have represented Lake Yard in no fewer than 31 Cowes - Torquay powerboat races over the years including 2 outright wins.
We are delighted Tony continues Lake Yards association with top flight powerboat racing.
And another round of applause to Nick Fullagar for his success at the Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta. Nick, and his boat Fixation raced in Class 5 and racked up an impressive 2x 2nd places, 2x 3rd places and a 1st place giving them an overall position of 2nd place! The Theodora Rose Cup (and a winners mug!) are currently downstairs in the bar. Well done Nick.
Classics at the Lake Yard!
A huge thank you to everyone who brought down their classic cars and motorbikes on Saturday 26th September!
The following weekend (3rd/4th October) saw the return of the CMBA Classic Boat Rally. The organisers have expressed their thanks to our members for coming down to see the boats and to help make their weekend visit another memorable event! They’re already looking forward to coming back to see us in October 2010!
Big thanks go to Mike & Angela Scott for sending me these pictures…
|
