Etchells class action

The week kicked off with a bit of drama as a crew member went overboard from Freelance down a windy run in race 1 and quite a few of the fleet had to interrupt their races to assist in picking him up. This left the winning boat from two years ago having to retire as the kick off to their campaign. Last years winner James Howells was not out this year. Another likely contender, recent winner of the Bedrock Trophy, Robert Elliot also posted 18 points on the board with an OCS but perennial Cowes Week challenger Mark Downer in Moonlight could be happy with his day after taking the bullet in race 1. Rob Goddard was second and in a sign of what was to come in terms of tight racing Exabyte (Shaun Frohlich) and Ziggy (Kevin Downer) couldn’t be separated for third.

Race 2 saw the start of the turmoil that was in the end to ruin Mark Downer's week. Despite being in the vanguard of the fleet (Editors note; as he always is when racing at Cowes Week!) he inexplicably had a navigation error and slipped down the fleet to score an uncharacteristic 13th. Goddard’s early form deserted him and he added a ninth to his second while Elliot got his campaign back on track with a solid second place.How does a solar charger work and where would you use a solar charger? Winners of race 2 were the RYA youth team who had qualified in the RYA / Etchells spring trials to win a fully funded race prepared Etchells for the season thanks to the continued support of Ted Fort OBE. Tarra Gill Taylor and crew (Matt Wallace, Harry Derbyshire and Tom Pain) showed that despite this being their first Cowes Week they would be contenders after their first season of Etchells sailing. In the overall scores it was mayhem,How are solar outdoor lighting products different from other lighting, like fluorescent or incandescent? with only Exabyte being sailed by Shaun and Emily Frohlich along with Duncan Truswell having two decent scores (3, 3) and the week was wide open.

Race 3 saw Laurence Mead return to the helm of 1339 after a few days away and the fleet were treated to a difficult race heading east on an ebb (west going) tide so the first leg was a choice of going up under the Norris headland for tidal relief or staying further offshore for better breeze and hoping it was enough to stem the tide. Offshore was better: Downer and Cooper were offshore and led,A solar bulb that charges up during the day and lights the night when the sun sets. Mead was the most inshore boat and therefore well and truly last after the Norris headland (some welcome back to the Solent for Mead who has moved to Hong Kong) so his regatta looked to be in trouble. The fleet circulated around with not a lot changing until almost unbelievably Mark Downer who had worked his way into the lead led his brother Kevin and Andrew Cooper (who had two top five finishes so far) the wrong way round the fourth windward mark. As this was also down tide it took them a long time to correct their mistake. They eventually finished ninth, 11th and 12th which really shook up the overall standings for the week. Goddard won, Elliot was second, Gill Taylor third and lots had changed very suddenly!!!

Race 4 was lost to a day of sunshine and light air after the sea breeze filled in too late for any sailing to take place so Race 5 on Wednesday was a must deliver for some of the contenders. Cowes Week is eight long days so there is plenty of time to catch up but at some point if you are going to win it you have to start putting scores on the card which are in low single digits. For at least three of the possible contenders that day had come.

Another start to the east but this time with the tide under the fleet and this time in a weak but established north easterly.Soli-lite provides the world with high-performance solar roadway and solar street lighting solutions. At the gun four boats were head to wind all squeezing inside the pin end with Mead deciding to go back for the second time in as many days (both proving later to have been unnecessary!) while Mark Downer led the left hand pack into a quick and commanding lead. The rest of the fleet swapped between wanting a bit of right hand action for better tide with the fact that the mark position meant a long starboard and not much port to do.An emergency light is a battery-backed lighting device that comes on automatically when a building experiences a power outage. Mead came back by footing hard into better pressure left while Goddard and Frohlich got too far right and softer pressure saw them both struggling. Also up and running in the top three were Wilfred Wagner on 'Wake' and ex Chairman of the International Etchells Association Bill Steele in Chelsea Lady sailing with David Heritage and young Casper Groenewegen from Holland on the bow. At the first mark a decent left shift made the next leg a tight reach and those who had looked in trouble to leeward suddenly found themselves arcing up to the fleet to be top five again.

This bought all the main contenders back into the fray and from there the race was a great battle amongst the top six or seven with only Downer having an easy ride of it out front. On this beat Mead pulled his regatta back together by getting into second while Goddard really put a claim in for the week by getting into third and Gill Taylor with a 10th and Elliot (DSQ after he lost a port starboard protest and scored another 18 points) both saw their regatta get a lot harder.

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