Chipstead SC- RS IOM Unicorn Open Meetings and Met & Southern Championship 2025 R1 Report
Chipstead SC- RS IOM Unicorn Open Meetings and Met & Southern Championship R1 2025
On Saturday the 1st of February sixteen sailors travelled to Chipstead to contest the IOM Unicorn Trophy and round one of the IOM Metropolitan and Southern Region Championship.
It was a bright cold February morning with only one problem; no wind!
Entries were registered, competitors chatted and at 09:45 hrs an optimistic course was laid. The briefing welcomed everyone, outlined the usual topics and racing commenced.
Race one, a lap and a beat, started with an enthusiastic general recall as boats OCS equalled double digits. Start two was a much more controlled affair and everyone got away cleanly. Nigel Barrow(Proteus) starting from the pin end slipped away into a clear lead. The following group consisted of Jeremy Collier(Sedici), Peter Crisp(Britpop), Jim La Roche(Britpop) and Craig Richards(Nemesis). Proteus and Nemesis are both 3D printed designs by Craig and look exceptionally good. Whilst Nigel slowly slipped away this group had a marvellous battle all the way to the finish. After the winner, Nigel, there was a bit of a gap to Jeremy, Peter, Craig and Jim who finished in quick succession.
Race two, revised to two laps and a beat, started once more with the majority of boats OCS and the inevitable general recall. Again, the second start was clean, but with Craig slipping out into the lead. Nigel was second and then a small group fighting for third consisting of Jeremy. Roy O’Donnell(V9), Hugh Watson(Britpop) and Robin Aldcroft(Britpop). This group had a great tactical battle for second place downwards. Craig sailed well ahead up to the finish to take the win, but the battle for those behind was raging. At the line, Nigel just sneaked second from Jeremy with Roy and Jim remarkably close behind.
Race three began…..good guess with another general recall which sailors loudly blamed on “an unexpected appearance of wind”. On the restart, Nigel was more than half a boat length OCS along with Bob Pearson(Sedici). Both were well behind after their restart. At the windward mark Hugh led from Richard Calas sailing his thirty year old Red Wine, Craig, Jeremy, Jim, William Grant(V9), Peter and Nigel. The run was a tricky affair as tiny pockets of breeze moved boats a few meters forwards before dying out. Other boats then had similar experiences which kept the racing very tight. On the upwind leg to the finish Hugh covered Craig and they slowly tacked up the bank. Peter , Jeremy, Jim and Richard followed closely behind them. Nigel decided to tack out across the lake. This tactic slowly enabled him to catch up and eventually sail around all the other boats into the lead and on to a very unexpected win. Peter slipped through to take second place with Jim close behind. Hugh and Craig having led for so long finished in fourth and fifth place.
Lunch was taken a few minutes early at 12:15hrs. This was in the hope that a bit more breeze would settle in later.
Everyone enjoyed a superb beef and vegetable stew with a bread roll prepared by Peter Crisp. It was hot, tasty and exactly what sailors needed on such a chilly day. Results had been calculated and after three races the places were:-
The course was moved to align with the now South South Westerly breeze which was much improved to about 2-4 mph.
Race four started at 13:30 hrs. Craig and Nigel were both quickly away followed by Hugh, Richard and Colin Honour(Britpop). It was a cagey race with Craig covering Nigel all the way around the course to the finish. Colin managed to make places up on the last leg to take third place.
Race five saw a reverse of fortunes at the front as Nigel covered Craig from start to finish. Bob Pearson(Sedici) sailed well to take third place.
Race six saw battle resume with Craig again covering Nigel with Robin just behind in third.
Race seven started and at the windward mark Hugh led from Jeremy, Craig, Nigel and Jim. This was a close race with many positional changes, but when it mattered, Jeremy found a line of breeze to move through to take a clear win from Hugh and Craig.
In Race eight Craig slipped away at the start to take a significant lead from Richard, Jeremy, Hugh , Nigel and Roy O,Donnell(V9). Craig was able to sail his own race with a loose cover on the fleet all the way to the finish. Roy found a good line to sail into second place with Nigel in third.
Race nine was a similar affair with Craig clear away for a win followed by Colin and Nigel.
In race ten, Hugh took a pin end port tack flyer and cleared the fleet. Nigel, Craig, Jim and Peter followed a few meters behind. Hugh slipped steadily away as everyone else covered each other. At the end, Hugh won comfortably from Nigel with Peter coming in third.
The final race commenced with 93 year old George Startup(Britpop) getting a perfectly timed pin end start. As if on cue, a nice header enabled him to tack and sail to the windward mark with a nice lead. Hugh, Robin and Nigel followed him several meters behind, but there was a considerable gap to the following group led by Craig. Unfortunately, George sailed out of the breeze on the run and the chasing pack slipped past only meters away. On the second beat, Hugh came through to take the lead, followed by Robin, Nigel, Richard, Peter and then a slowly recovering Craig. It all closed up down the final run but with Hugh managing to hang onto the lead. The final leg was a slow tense thing with Hugh trying to cover Nigel, Richard and Peter. Everyone except Craig had chosen the usually beneficial line up the middle of the course, but that was precisely where the breeze failed and with Hugh only a few meters from the finish line. Craig had chosen a course closer to the bank, and managed to pick up a small line of breeze to inch his way towards the finish line for another win. Hugh managed to hold onto second place with Nigel very close behind in third. The rest of the fleet all slowly crawled to the finish to complete the race.
Sailors packed their boats and sails away and adjourned to the clubhouse for a hot drink and cake. Results were calculated whilst the sailors enjoyed a chat.
The prizes were presented by the Chipstead SC Commadore Keith Turtle. He greeted all the competitors and outline how important radio sailing is to the club.
The first award, a jar of marmalade provided by Barrie Martin, was presented to George Startup for coming last, but completing every race.
Sixth place and first club boat was Robin Aldcroft
Fifth place was Richard Calas
Fourth place was Jeremy Collier
Third place was Hugh Watson
Second place was Nigel Barrow
First place was Craig Richards
Craig had a superbly consistent focused afternoon where he led numerous times from start to finish, but also worked really hard to come back into contention when necessary. Nigel also sailed really well, but it was just Craigs day. Hugh sailed a very consistent afternoon session to move up the fleet into third place.
I would like to thank Stuart Ord Hume and John Caruana for their help running the meeting.
Despite the poor breeze this was a well contested opening round of the district championship.
Round two is at Hampton Court MYC on the 11th of May.
Dave Allinson PRO
