Falmouth Sailing Week Ajax
Class 2022
12 Ajaxes competed at the Falmouth Sailing Week Regatta - 2022
in the Carrick Roads.
With a very substantial high pressure located over most of the
UK the forecast for the week was very light, with sun hats obligatory, patience
required, and swimming recommended but optional.
The week started on Sunday,
August 7th with Helford River Sailing Clubs event,
Athena showed her light wind pace, especially downwind, where
they were sailing at angles most of us could only dream about and maintaining
boat speed when the rest of us were struggling to get going. The Carrick Roads
looked like a patchwork quilt with little veins of wind and dark patches and
large, cavernous holes and 40° wind shifts all over the shop. Athena set the
pace chased by Polyphemus and Diomedes.
Monday at Mylor Yacht Club
and the race officer was getting a taste of the week ahead, with
delays while any kind of breeze tried to establish itself but with no clouds
rising inland the thoughts of a thermal breeze were sadly extinguished once
again. Polyphemus, Pintail, Kali, and Diomedes did well up the beat but Athena
was always in the mix and once again got clear ahead to take their 2nd win of
the week.
Tuesday and Restronguet Sailing Club
brought more of the same conditions and once again Athena worked
her way into the lead and stretched away with devastating downwind speed,
passing Polyphemus and Kali on the run.
Wednesday and the slightly
longer race sponsored by Mainbrace Rum
is always a favourite, however the conditions were similar
to earlier in the week with patches all over the shop that seemed to change at
irregular intervals. Polyphemus managed to get to the breeze on the right first
and led at the windward mark and then she managed to extend away from the fleet
on her own private zephyr, but in these conditions, it is never over… a
shortened course once again and a nervy beat up tide to the finish line, Kali
held on to 2nd and Athena were 3rd.
Thursday, Royal Cornwall
Yacht Club
and the first of three 2 race days. Troy who has been
consistently fast since going in the water started and was only competing in
the latter half of the week got away to a perfect start, holding onto a narrow
lead over Athena with Kittywake, Polyphemus, and
Achilles rounding the mark shortly after and opting for the other side of the
course, Polyphemus managed to sneak passed Kittywake
on the short run to the finish line with Achilles close behind.
Race 2
was a nail-biter as it was getting late in the day and the
patchy breeze seemed destined to leave us with at worst an abandoned race or at
best a long paddle home. But we got off the line and all looked good for a
while, Athena once again got ahead having chosen the correct side of the course
while Polyphemus and Troy were on the wrong side of everything. Artemis was
chasing hard with Pintail, and we ended up going round East Narrows in
virtually nothing, a tiny short beat to south narrows saw Troy and Redoubtable
pass Polyphemus who now saw a RIB going home already towing Kali and opted to
hitch a ride while the rest of the fleet persisted in the dying breeze.
However, a tiny patch managed to get the leaders over the line, Troy picked up
a few more places and finished 3rd behind Athena and Artemis with Pintail 4th.
Friday and St Mawes Day
was even lighter than usual, the committee boat was moved to
try and find any breeze at all to get a race underway. And an optimistic course
was set with the hopes we could get started. Just before the start, and to the
left of the pin was a lovely easterly but about 50m shy of making the starting
area, almost the entire fleet was hanging around in the breeze trying to time a
run into the flat spot to be able to cross the line against the flooding tide.
At the committee boat, it looked much flatter to most of us but Artemis had
seen something and was managing to just hold herself against the tide, she
crossed the line and was away towards the easterly on the opposite shore. Now
there was a little bit of stress at the pin end, we all tried to get to the
line, but none of us could, in the end, we were all timed out and Artemis was
the only starter of the race!
Saturday at Flushing
Sailing Club
was a rerun of the previous few days with an incredibly patchy,
light, shifty breeze filling in predominantly on the St Mawes
side of the course. Artemis, Athena, Troy, and Polyphemus all lined up at the
pin heading over to the windy side of the course, and all of them, apart from
Artemis, made good progress away from the fleet. Pretty certain Artemis had
forgotten to take the brake off. After a while, the three of them tacked off
well above the lay line for the windward mark, and Troy and Athena squeezed out
Polyphemus and she headed off back to the St Mawes
shore. After a few hundred metres the wind in the middle shut down and the
incoming tide was getting stronger, Polyphemus hugged the breeze and the
shoreline and progressed almost to the lighthouse before trying to make the
windward, but by this stage, there was no wind in the middle of the course and
every time you approached the windward mark you ran out of the breeze and were
swept away by the tide…. And thus, the time limit was reached before anyone
managed to finish the first leg.
Overall, a well-deserved victory
for Athena with a superb set of results including 4 race
wins out of 7 races. She had shown superb boat speed all week, especially
downwind, and excellent tactics to ensure consistent results. Polyphemus was 2nd and had shown some
decent moments with Pintail completing
the podium in 3rd. The short series on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday which
should have constituted 6 races, unfortunately only managed to complete 3, and
one of those was the comedy start where Artemis was the only boat that made the
start line. As a result, the short series was won by Artemis with Athena 2nd
and Troy 3rd.
A big thank you to the Race management team from Falmouth
Sailing who worked tirelessly in very difficult circumstances to try and get
some racing for us, 7 races out of 10 planned, in those circumstances was a
decent result. Hopefully, 2023 will bring as much sunshine but more breeze!