As I saw (and remembered) it – Saturday 28th March

A great day of Etchells racing to wrap up the club season with 9 boats on the water. The racing was extraordinary close all day as witnessed in the final finish with just 7 seconds between 2^nd and 5^th. It was all on for the Squadron Championship with Waterloo Too needing to put 2 points on leader NGHAM over these final 2 races to take the title.

With NGHAM lacking a bowman this week, Brad and Scottie dragged 2009 World Champion Jason Muir out of retirement. Al took over Knot Easy with Jason unavailable.

The forecasts were all suggesting 6-10kts Sou-easterly – what we got was 10-13kts closer to the east. It was shifty and with the pressure lines, a real snakes and ladders course.

With nine boats on the course and such close racing with becomes very hard to see and remember everything that was happening so excuse the creative licence below.

Race 1 saw Athena misjudge the start giving a handy advantage to the rest of the fleet. The left was lightly favoured and The Saint was first to the top with TAG, NGHAM, W2 and Rapscallion all rounding line astern. Just a few lengths behind were Happy Hour, Knot Easy, The Project. Athena had a good beat and were back in touch with the fleet

Knot Easy had a halyard issue with the spinnaker halyard led behind the rig slowing their hoist and with the fleet so close this was costly – its ok Chris – we won’t mention any names! By the bottom The Saint held the lead to round just ahead of Rapscallion and W2 while NGHAM rounded 4^th just ahead of TAG in 5^th.

On the beat the first 4 boats all played the middle left while TAG went right. This time the right was paying and though there wasn’t much between these four but by the time everyone came together at the top TAG had gone from 5^th to 1^st and had a 1-2 boat lead from The Saint with NGHAM another couple of lengths back. Waterloo Too were another few lengths behind with Rapscallion back in 5^th. Happy Hour rounded just ahead of Knot Easy while Athena and The Project were in a tight battle for 8^th!

By the finish TAG took the first gun of the day from The Saint by a length with a further length back to NGHAM with W2 4^th and now needing to be 3 places ahead of NGHAM in the final race. Rapscallion crossed in 5^th ahead of Happy Hour and Knot Easy. It was all on between Athena and The Project for 8^th with The Project sailing past Athena on the last leg from the gate into the finish to beat them by just 2 seconds.

Race 2 started in similar conditions. Knot Easy got caught on course side and had to wait for the traffic to clear before they could get back to the line to restart. Neither side of the course appeared to be dominant, and it was just a matter of being in phase with the shifts and pressure. The Saint was first to the top once again followed by TAG, NGHAM with Rapscallion and W2 rounding together. These 5 were in a tight battle all day across both races. 6^th around was Happy Hour with The Project and Athena just astern. Knot Easy were still trying to get back in touch after their disastrous start.

At the bottom, The Saint led from TAG around the left mark ahead of Rapscallion while Rapscallion and NGHAM went around the right mark. Places seesawed on the beat but The Saint held on to lead around the top for the final time from TAG by a length with Rapscallion a length back. Coming in from the left on the port lay were W2 and NGHAM.  Brad tacked to squeeze in front of Rapscallion on the transom of TAG causing Rapscallion to luff to avoid contact with much yelling and calls of ‘Protest’. W2 had manged to tack below TAG to round 3^rd.

The final run was very close and by the time the leaders reached the final turn at the bottom gate TAG on stb held out The Saint before gybing to the pin. W2 and NGHAM were also in a ding dong battle just behind. As they all reached to the pin The Saint saw the oxygen masks drop as they were rolled. Rapscallion see all the drama to windward sailed deep for the boat end hoping to pick up some places by avoiding the fight above.

By the finish TAG had eased ahead to take their second gun of the day. W2 held off NGHAM while The Saint were pushed back into 4^th. Rapscallion, though getting a clean run into the line suffered from the pin end bias finishing 5^th. Just 15 seconds separated these 5 boats. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Boat of the Day honours to TAG showing that Todd still has it – just needs a week to work the rust off!

The day finished with one the Etchells great BBQs at the TP BBQ area. A big thanks to all who have done so much for the fleet this year with a special shout out to our Fleet Captain (or is it President or Admiral – I’ve lost track 😊) Brad who has done a great job getting the shade sail and Tuco’s stern in place, running with the Corithian Cup organisation and getting some great sponsorship on board.

Also, a big thanks to the club and volunteers who have put on the racing week after week – especially after the big couple of months the club has had recently.

With the results now in, congratulations to:

Athena – PHS

NGHAM – Season Points

NGHAM – Squadron Championship

Thanks everyone for a great season.

See you all at the Corinthian Cup in just a few weeks.

(The author accepts no responsibility for any errors, omissions, distortions or outright lies in this article.)