Burnham Week 2023 Day 3

by Sally Harbott 29 Aug 2023 08:11 NZST 26 August - 2 September 2023

Light and flukey winds greeted the competitors this morning but it did not dampen spirits or enthusiasm for the conclusion of the Bank Holiday Regatta of Burnham Week.

The Elites had their first start and got away well heading down river under kites to Clarks and Holliwell for two laps. As they got down to Clarks and rounded, the wind dropped and they had a taxing foul tide windward leg back up to Holliwell, allowing the fleet to get quite spread. Race five was won by Serious Moonlight, Richard Bavin with All the Gear, Neil Fulcher second. In their second race Serious Moonlight again took the bullet with Blind Squirrel Bill Blank second and Neil Fulcher's All the Gear third. Overall Richard Bavin in Serious Moonlight took the weekend from Neil Fulcher in All the Gear and Blind Squirrel Bill Blank just a point behind in third.

The Squibs had another clean start and headed under kites to Pinto. Nic Tolhurst in What's the Story rounded first just ahead of Dave Hyde and Stuart Mears in Sophie. After a really tough leg up to Rubber Ball for a starboard rounding, the fleet had spread vastly and five squibs were well clear of the fleet. Sophie rounded ahead of What's the Story but on their second rounding of Pinto, Nic had managed to get back in front. Sophie sailed by Stuart Mears won with Spoof, Mickey Wright second, What's the Story third and Lady Penelope fourth. Overall Spoof won with Lady Penelope second and Sophie third.

Class One had a testing first leg. Jeannie and Cobra more on the South Shore and Cobra without a spinnaker for some time. The rest flew asymmetrics on the North Shore. Exile led to the first mark and rounded Inner Crouch ahead of the fleet. However they stopped down river of the mark in light patch and this allowed Mantra, Slipstream and Santa Evita to close the gap. Jeannie managed to round inside this group and claws back a lot of time.The boats then headed up to Ron Pipe and struggled to find the wind the positions changing constantly, spinnakers went up and down on this leg too which illustrated just how shifty it was. On corrected time Santa Evita, owned by Digger Harden, Mike Schneidau and Dan Wastnage took first with Jeannie, John Saunders second and Lizzie Brown's Slipstream third. Overall Slipstream won the weekend with Santa Evita and Jeannie, John Saunders third on count back from Mantra.The Burnham Week Team Trophy was won by the Burnham Sailing Club team of Jeannie and Santa Evita.

Class five also went down to Inner Crouch Eclipse, Daryl Mylroie led down with Ophelia and Sandhopper a way behind. As Eclipse struggled in clam patches the other two closed the gap and at the mark as all three approached together Richard Moore's MGC 27 Ophelia rounded first just ahead of the Maxi 1000 Eclipse with Ernie Breavington in Sandhopper just behind. Trinco, the Contessa 26 owned by Peter Hooper won with Ernie Breavington in Sandhopper second and Ophelia, Richard Moore third. Overall Sandhopper took the weekend with Daryl Mylroie in Exlipse the runner up one point ahead of Trinco.

Class six headed down river and after a long day afloat Danielle Southey in JodeAnni won with Lucy Lee, Ian Keam George second and Dabtoe Nicholas Moulton third. Overall Lucy Lee won the weekend with Dabtoe second and JodeAnni third.

The Royal Corinthian won the Local Handicap Team Trophy.

The MOCRA fleet had a long leg down and out of the river and Triassic was leading the other two on the slow tidal leg. They also saw many wind shifts and at times could fly their spinnakers although at others this was not possible. Triassic was the only one of the three starters to finish. Triassic owned by Nigel Stevens won overall with NRB runner up.

The Dragon fleet headed down to Clarks before heading back up to Redward and then a couple of times to Inner Crouch. Ian Gray in Still Crazy won today with Peter Marchant in Beauty and the Beast second and Avalanche third. Overall, Mark Wade in Avalanche took the weekend with Peter Marchant second and Ian Gray third.

The RCODs also headed down to Clarks and Justin Waples in Cormorant led on the shy spinnaker leg down. The fleet managed to keep a good breeze down towards Pinto and Clarks. By the finish, Nick Bacon in Corella won with Justin Waples second and Sue Law in Coralie third. Overall Corella won the weekend just one point ahead of Cormorant, Justin Waples. Sue Law tookthird.

The RBODs were enjoying really close racing as they approached Pinto. Phalarope sailed by Tom Corrigan was leading from Stephen Herring in Red Jacket. As they headed up river towards Rubber Ball the fleet mixed in with the classic ECODS who were headed down to Clarks. Belinda took her second win of the weekend with Red Jacket second and Blue Jacket third. Overall Red Jacket Stephen Herring won with Louise Soloway Chan in Belinda second and Phalarope sailed by Tom Corrigan third.

The ECODS had brilliant racing again and were close and tight. Although not leading on the way down river, David Smith took the win again to take the weekend with all three firsts. Paul Jeffries the visitor from Blackwater Sailing Club in Witch was second and Widgeon Ian Wilson third. Overall Wizard won with Witch, Paul Jeffries second and Wraith, Jerry Mecoy third.

In the Sandhoppers Peter Thompson took his third straight bullet to win the weekend with Wild Gull second today and Undine sailed by Bill Wright third. Overall Sea Phantom won with Wild Gull, Kevin Whittle, taking second on count back from The Dogs 5, Mark Jewell.

The Osprey fleet saw Lethal Weapon David Carroll win against with Robert Shaw second in Bird of Prey IV and Hippo Croco Donkey with Russell Wheeler third. Overall Lethal Weapon won with Robert Shaw second in Bird of Prey IV and Ghost Ship, Roger Blake third.

The Phantoms raced from Pile House today. Gromit sailed by Chris Roberts won with White Walker Roger Smith and Richard Nurse third. Overall Richard Nurse won with Bill Taylor in Shergal Pharky second and Chris Roberts in Gromit third.

The Burnham Sailing Club just managed to get one race in today as the wind was unpredictable. In the RS200 fleet Jo Tribe and Marcus Collingbourne took the win to give them 5 straight bullets and take the win for the weekend.

In the fast handicap Keith Fedi won in his OK with Dave Chamberlain second in the Streaker. Eamonn Browne in his Dart 15 took third. Dave Chamberlain in the Streaker won the weekend overall with Keith Fedi the runner up.

In the slow handicap Noah Mathers won in the Feva. Noah taking the weekend trophy. The Lasers finished their fantastic weekend with a win for Matthew Pickett giving him the weekend overall. Ant Law came second in todays race with Will Mears taking a third. Duncan de Boltz was runner up overall with Nick Hutton Penman third.

Results at www.burnhamweek.com/results-2023