East Coast Piers Race Report
Sponsored by Wildwind Sailing Holidays
Marconi Sailing Club welcomed 79 competitors, their family and friends to this year's East Coast Piers Race weekend.
On Saturday morning Marconi Sailing Club held the official opening of their new club house facilities, the commodore's wife did the honours by cutting the ribbon in front of a number of club members and visitors.
Saturday saw 57 competitors battling for the Cool Cats trophy. The first race started at 1pm and was up and down the river from the end of Osea Island down the river to Thirslet and back again. The wind was very up and down with plenty of shifts. Nick Elmore flew into the lead with his Nacra F20 closely followed by Simon Northrop and Trevor Bawden.
The second race was a shorter course up and down the river again. There was no catching Nick Elmore over the water but the Spitfires mainly made up of the Youth Squad were enjoying the light airs.
On Saturday night the campsite was bursting at the seams with Tina cooking a meal for all competitors, the majority of competitors then moved onto the bar and the sea wall to see the sun set over Osea Island.
Sunday morning came and the competitors were met with an unusual breeze, a nice force 2 to start the race. The rescue boats were on the water early with the smell of a Full English flowing through the campsite. Dave Russell and his team of scruiteneers were checking competitors through onto the hard ensuring they had all the safety equipment needed.
The East Coast Piers Race was first to start with a sudden change to the racing instructions with the inner distance mark being removed (or sunk), apparently marks don't float when the anchor is dropped on top. 34 competitors chose to take on the 50 mile long course up to Walton and back. The start was a downwind leg, only one boat on the line didn't have a kite but got one of the best starts. Nick Elmore and Kyle Stoneham took the lead and pulled away in their Nacra F20, closely followed by a couple of Tornados and a selection of F18's.
The Colne Point race then started 20 minutes later at 8.50am, a seal decided to pop up on the start line but suddenly decided to duck under the water to avoid the 44 competitors. The Colne Point race takes the competitors on a 29 mile run out of the River Blackwater across the mouth of the river and back again. This year we welcomed the Spitfire Youth Squad to take part in the race.
The downwind leg out of the river stayed reasonably light but the breeze was always building. By the time the competitors were nearing Clacton Pier the wind was picking up. The top boats went round the mark at Walton Pier after around 1 hour and 50 minutes of racing. Still leading was the F20 followed by the Tornado of Pete Jary and a handful of F18's. The F18's had really enjoyed the lighter breeze up to Walton. On the 2 hour mark the Tornado's of Paul Mines, Lee Morgan and Phil Marks all went round within 10 seconds, a great boat on boat race.
First to turn at Colne Point was Simon Longstaff in his Stealth F16, but he couldn't hold onto that lead with Marconi team of Paul Harrison and Caroline Jackson taking the line honours followed by Paul Warren then Olly Harris.
The journey back for the ECPR was a long beat with some quickly growing wind and waves, this was the time for the Tornado's to take control. Pete Jary, Kevin Turner and Phil Marks pulled away from the rest of the fleet very closely followed by the Wild Cat of Matt Humphreys and Luke Yeates who were keeping great pace.
Coming back into the river the ECPR competitors were catching the back end of the Colne Point Race, some boats were tied off behind the mother boats where they had retired or had breakages. The wind back into the river was very gusty and off Bradwell the gusts were hitting force 6.
The order of competitors had really changed from turning at Walton with the F20 leading the way leading home in what could be a record time of 4 hours 6 minutes, followed by Kevin Turner, Phil Marks, Pete Jary, Matt Humphreys then Lee Morgan.
Prize giving was held a little earlier than usual thanks to the great conditions on the day. Simon Elwell, Marconi Sailing Clubs Commodore and OOD for the day paid tribute to Reg White who sadly passed away recently. A minutes silence was signalled by the race cannons.
The raffle was also drawn where our Dutch visitors took the top prize of a Wildwind Sailing Holiday.
The winners of the weekend were then announced:
- Saturday Series - Simon Northrop and Simon Farren
- Colne Point Race - Olly Harris
- East Coast Piers Race - Matt Humphreys and Luke Yeates
Full results can be found on the East Coast Piers Race website.
Overall a great race weekend with superb sailing conditions. The organisers would like to thank everyone who helps pull this great event together including our sponsors who help us to raise money for The Cirdan Sailing Trust and Essex Air Ambulance.
