BANJAARD and Glenfruin claimed category honours as the popular Heritage Gourp Frostbite Series came to an exciting conclusion. The final race of the series, organised by the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club, saw yet again some excellent sailing conditions.
The fresh north-easterly wind chopped up the Little Russel somewhat but made for fast racing.
A south-to-north start saw 12 boats cross the line - six in the racing class and six cruisers - with all yachts getting away to a clean start and heading towards the first mark near St Sampson’s.
Keeping in the tide was important and most yachts tacked away from the coast to gain the advantage.
The three competitive Melges 24s soon led the fleet and from Vivian buoy sailed towards Aigillon, the Jethou mark.
All the racing yachts hoisted spinnakers when recrossing the Russel towards Fermain but the three Melges were never challenged.
Nearest was John Falla’s Swan 36 Banjaard which in turn was pushed by Jason Romer’s Flat Eric and at the finish these two were separated by just 30 seconds - representing a mere seven seconds after applying the handicap calculations.
Tacktic (John Whittle) looked to be sailing well but was still two minutes behind Flat Eric at the finish.
Grant and Jamie Hamilton in Madcap took line honours and first on handicap followed by Simon Henning’s White Rabbit and Chris Sharp in Wicked Feet.
The cruisers also had some close racing, with David Herschel in his bilge-keeled Glenfruin crushing the faster boats to win by some four minutes on handicap.
It was Tomahawk (Gordon Wilson) which gained line honours but would make only third spot on handicap.
Stuart McKerrell and Brian Parkin’s Busker flew her smaller spinnaker and had the edge on close rival Altair (John Frankland) which tried a boomed out genoa in place of the kite.
Busker finished second over the line just two minutes ahead of Altair and only 11 seconds behind Tomahawk.
In the overall results for the racers in this series, Banjaard had only once been out of the frame in six races and consequently took first place. Madcap was second overall, with Rupert and Rosie Dorey’s Vamoosh third.
For the cruisers, Glenfruin was the clear winner overall, Tomahawk second and John Squires in Haven Gem just pipping Busker for third place.
* THE RCIYC summer races are due to start on 15 May.
Article posted on 12th April, 2007 - 12.00am
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