It happened! After a seven year pause and inspite of dire weather warnings of Force 11 winds a couple of days before the race, our Black Rock challenge took place on Saturday. We had 12 hearty boat crews ranging from a classic gaffer to a 26ft racing catamaran to a 44ft modern Jeanneau. The plan was to start from a line just off Durgan and then race via the August Rock buoy, around the Black Rock and back again to the finish line.
True to form, all three of our current boats wouldn’t start. Simon Boote kindly allowed us to use his boat and that wouldn’t start either. Luckily Iain McLaren came up trumps with his small tender with which we could time the starts, while he kindly provided his big rib as the safety boat. So one crisis over.
When Ant and I got to the start line, there was not even a hint of wind. With three classes of boats, we grandly started the Sprat Class of four yachts.
Dragun (Charles Richardson) got away, somehow, but the other four spent an hour making almost no progress. And in the case of our gallant Race Captain, they went backwards and never managed to cross the start line for an hour until they resorted to their engine!!! It was pretty much the same for the next two classes of boats, Pilchard and Mackerel Classes – so crisis number two. After another half an hour barely moving from the start line, the decision was made to allow everyone to motor to the August Rock and then to start the race from there – with the exception of Dragun who led the race out into Falmouth Bay under sail all the way.
Another 45 minutes of no wind at August Rock followed by 95% of the PNYC racing fleet milling around like a flock of birds flying round in circles waiting for one bird to decide on which way to go. I contemplated cancelling due to lack of any motion (with the sole exception of Dragun) but was assured by Rob that the wind would come. And low and behold, some two hours plus into the race the wind arrived.
What followed was a cracking race to, round and back from The Black Rock in a steady Force 5-6 wind with the two catamarans, Lindy and Mirri, and Dragunleading the way and Cicada bravely bringing up the rear. It was lovely to see PNYC’s 12 boats in line astern racing across an empty Falmouth Bay. Along the way we had pretty much every kind of weather except snow.
A huge thanks to all the crews who took part with great humour and patience, particularly at the start. And massive thanks to Iain McLaren for providing the vital support boats and his time and support – couldn’t have done it without him. Finally thanks to Rob Templeton, our PNYC Race Captain, whose enthusiasm knows no bounds, unlike his boat! We have learnt a lot for next time – like make sure we have a working committee boat and make sure we actually have a radio on board!
The race was followed by a cracking night at PNYC Bar and Restaurant. A lovely set meal from Mike, a maritime based quiz (which was won by Jonathan Thornton and TeamCalico) and a bit of a lock in at the end. And not a mask in sight! Team Cicada and Mormendill finally left at 12.45, Cicada to bravely spend the night on their boat at the end of the pontoon. After locking up, Ant and I set off home, only to run out of petrol at High Cross Garage followed by an hour’s walk to get home. Crisis number 3. Perfect day.
Results:
Sprat Class Winner on handicap: Marty Ritchie skippered by Don Garman
Pilchard Class Winner on handicap: Mirri skippered by Roger McDonald
Mackerel Class Winner on handicap: Sea Otter skippered by Andy Cooke
Overall Winner (and only boat to sail the entire course): Dragun skippered by Charles Richardson.
Sprat Class: Cicada, Rob Templeton; Dragun, Charles Richardson; Mystery, Andy Bennett; Marty Ritchie, Don Garman. Pilchard Class: Guinevere, Paul Clark; Mirri, Roger McDonald; Calico, Jonathan Thornton; Katie, Angus MacArthur. Mackerel Class: Mormendill, Phil Clark; Yamanja, David Tippett; Sea Otter, Andy Cooke; Lindy, Keith Wilkinson.
We have been approached by a relatively new member, Rob Templeton, to stage a fun sailing race at PNYC and we would love to do it if there is enough interest. The idea would be a handicapped race to Black Rock and back from a start line just off Durgan (tbc) on Saturday 2nd October with a start time of 1pm. Afterwards we would offer a team dinner and drinks at the Club along with prize giving. If you would like to take part – either on your boat or as a possible crew for another boat or to help run the race (or you would just like to come to the dinner and prize giving) – then please drop me a line at admin@pnyc.co.uk . If there is enough interest we’ll come back to you with more details. It would be so great to stage a PNYC race and we are indebted to Rob for offering his services. We miss Peter Goad’s enthusiasm and skill but I am sure that he would encourage all those that can to take part from his home in NZ.
Black Dog has won the RORC IRC National Championships – again. So that’s two national wins for this PNYC registered boat – 2019 and 2021. The team has been racing for 11 years and this year Stuart Sawyer’s team was joined by double Olympic Silver Medallist, Nick Rogers.
“We are delighted” said Stuart. “We are surprised to win as we haven’t been racing much but we have been training and our crew work is slick…. we were confident with ourselves but we didn’t know how we would measure up against the top IRC boats.”
Well, they beat them! Congratulations to all the team members and The Club would like to stand them some beers.
Black Dog, flying under the PNYC burgee, took first place in the IRC South West Championships in Dartmouth at the start of this month and also won the 1st Overall IRC 1 at the Royal Dartmouth Regatta, thereby ending the season in some style. Congratulations to all who sailed on her throughout the season.
Rebecca of Helford took part against five other boats in the annual Currie and Brown Cup organised by St Mawes Sailing Club. After three laps of the course Rebecca was leading and probably would have gone on to win. Unfortunately Rebecca and four other boats all misread their sailing instructions and were disqualified, leaving Ruby, the only boat not disqualified, to win the race. But a good time was had by all.
We have three boats racing under the PNYC burgee – Black Dog, Rebecca of Helford and Juno. Black Dog came first in the IRC Class 1at the Dartmouth Royal Regatta last weekend – see this link for results: dartmouthsailingweek.com/single/latest-results
The Helford River Children’s Sailing Trust are running a full programme of courses throughout the summer. Our three kids have all gone through the various RYA and Power Boat courses and they are brilliant. The kids seem to have a great time, whatever the weather, and the parents get time off !!! There’s more information on their website: hrcst.org.uk/courses/holiday-courses/
Apologies for this late up-date but we are pleased to announce that PNYC’s Juno won the first COGS Offshore race of the year to Roscoff with PNYC’s Black Dog in third place. The 100 mile Ancasta Roscoff Night Race took place on Friday 5th May with light breezes. We are setting up a PNYC Racing Page shortly and will have more extensive reports and pictures.
Full details on the COGS website:
http://www.cogsracing.org.uk
Last year Black Dog registered under PNYC and had a cracking season. We are delighted to announce that two further boats are registering under the Club and are intending to take part in The COGS this year (Cornwall Offshore Group Series). We have Juno, a J109 with Johnny Walker and his crew. And Rebecca of Helford, a Rustler 42 with Charles Richardson, Peter Shepherd and their crew of “senior” sailors. Black Dog and Juno came 1st and 2nd last year in the COGS Series. We will create a racing page on the website shortly and will follow their progress over the season. The Roscoff Race, sponsored by Ancasta, is on 4th of May with Black Dog and Juno taking part. Good luck to you all and thank you for flying under the PNYC burgee.
