Gotcha in September 2009 – Photo: Peter Wood
What a great season for the yachts; one of the windiest on record and a superb set of results for the Club. It was certainly a mixed bag, autumnal conditions in July and August and summer conditions in the autumn!
Club racing was a great success, most notable being the strong resurgence of the PY fleet, which was one of our initial aims. It has been great to see a number of new faces getting on the water on a Wednesday evening and some old older ones too. Jinjy, Kudu and Valkyrie have all done very well this year, but the trophy for seamanship must go to Amanzimtoti who took her skipper, Roger McDonald, around the course single-handed in 40 knots of breeze.
The IRC fleet has continued to remain competitive, with the odd protest hearing helping to extend people’s knowledge of the racing rules. Regulars on the race course were Jetta, Orijin, Big Purple, Gotcha! and Jacobi, who was less dominant than in previous years, with Gotcha! showing her true pedigree and taking the top yacht honours for 2009.
Helford really excelled on the club front. The year started with a bang when Big Purple won both the Savills Cup in Falmouth and the Helford Club Regatta, putting on a great show in the 25 – 30 knot winds. Jacobi won the COGS series (again!), with Gotcha! and Orijin supporting her on the team front. Demolition, whilst only making a couple of appearances throughout the season, saved her best for Dartmouth Regatta where they came an impressive 3rd in a very competitive IRC5 fleet. Gotcha! had a storming year, first winning Falmouth Week IRC1, overall, and the zero discard Iron Man trophy. This was then followed by a 2nd in IRC4 at Dartmouth Regatta, just behind a very well sailed J97, which won both her Class and Black Group in Cowes Week. Sadly we said goodbye to Jetta, which marks an end to the J92 era at the Club.
The L’Aber-Wrac’h 50th Anniversary Race was a fantastic event with a glorious evening for the Champagne Party setting the scene the night before and a tremendous turn out of yachts from both sides of the Channel. The next day the competitors were met with warm and sunny conditions with 6 – 10 knots of breeze for the start. Over 75 yachts set sail for France from the Helford, worthy mentions of the fleet must go to Rob Hewett as he crossed the start line with Rule Britannia blaring out of Triton’s stereo and Wally Royal, who not only completed his 33rd crossing, but also finished as first Helford yacht in Xenia, the X361, to win the Sundance Trophy. Overall, the British boats put on a great show and ranked highly in the prizes.
The Wednesday night sailors enjoyed a competitive year in a variety of conditions and finished with a Wash-Up session in October, which was attended by over 40 sailors. Discussion ensued about introducing a One Design Fleet to the river, but the momentum has been lost, so this would now be in 2011 at the earliest.
Behind the scenes there have been a few people who have been doing a lot of work to support the yacht programme. Special thanks go to Tony Statham for all things SI and NOR and to Terry Pascoe for the results each week. Alli and Greg have done a fantastic job in looking after us so well with the important après-sail side of things and finally thanks to John Jane, whose boundless enthusiasm makes it all happen!
Here’s to getting wet ‘n windy in 2010!
Garth Weaver and Stuart Sawyer, Captains Yachts
