With thanks to Doug Spooner and Dave Ellis from the club for the words and Adrian Trice for the photos:
Entry fees are not fixed but are a donation of the sailors' choice to the local Pilgrims Hospice, or to a hospice of their choice. In addition to Broadstairs sailors, dinghies and yachts entered were from Downs SC, Minnis Bay SC and the Royal Temple Yacht Club.
The day started early with volunteers arriving to prepare breakfast in the clubhouse for hungry competitors and race volunteers. At the Race Office, the Race Officer was greeted by a calm sea, south running tide and a gentle 8 to 10 knots from the South West although all of the forecasts were anticipating more by the end of the day.
The event began with a 10.45 start for the yachts from the Royal Temple YC. Starting from an extended club line the fleet crossed the line in quick succession and headed out to sea to round the Broadstairs Knoll before heading back towards Ramsgate for a loop around some of the local channel buoys before finishing on their own club line.
The dinghy fleet was boosted by visiting boats, and saw 21 racers, ranging from a lonely Topper up to Nacra 17, head out of the bay for the 11.00 start for the first race of 3 laps of a trapezoidal course. In a steadily increasing breeze the Nacra was always going to be the leading boat but it was closely followed by a Contender, Phantom, RS300 and the first of a growing fleet of Streakers. The Phantom of Paddy Denby took the win on handicap with Pete Noble's Contender second and Dave Adam's Streaker third.
Photo - Oops, nearly!
The format of the event then removes one of the marks for a triangular course, with the race team getting another clean start away just after 12.00. With a further increase in wind strength also starting to whip up the waves race 2 started with a reduced fleet, but the front runners remained very much the same including some close competition between the leading Streakers. The Nacra again lost out on handicap with Pete Noble taking the win from Dave Adams and Paddy Denby.
Race 3 saw one more mark removed to leave a windward - leeward course for the final race and giving the three hard working rescue boat crews less to pull up at the end of the day. A further reduced fleet of 11 boats coped well with the strong SW breeze which was now gusting over 25 knots. Although the Nacra continued to lead the way, new faces appeared in the chasing group. Lee Goody in another Streaker took the win, followed by Dave Adams and the Solo of Dave Tomlinson. In the end only two points separated the first three boats with the overall winner being decided by countback. The front runners were always chased by the RS300 of Neal Gibson from Downs SC. At the end of the final race the Nacra 17 crewed by Ollie and William Northrop sailed away back to Minnis Bay SC, completing the passage in under an hour.
The final results with the winner taking the Dyson Dash Trophy:
1st Pete Noble Contender 2718 2, 1, 4 7pts
2nd Dave Adams Streaker 2151 3, 2, 2 7pts
3rd Paddy Denby Phantom 1452 1, 3, 5 9pts
Photo - Pete Noble receives the Dyson Dash Trophy
Also presented was the Two Fat Ladies trophy, awarded to any of the competitors judged by the race management and safety teams to be having the most fun on the day. After only a short discussion the trophy was awarded to the lone Topper sailor 13 year old Henry Hodge.
Michael Todd, the principal organiser of the event, expressed great thanks to all sailors, guests and helpers who made the event such a success.
Find out more about Broadstairs SC, an RYA Recognised Training Centre