Sorry for our lack of race reports lately, our roving reporter has been somewhat distracted by the day job and has been failing in her duties.  Anyway, here is a very quick catch up on recent BOD racing activity.

Carstairs Cup – 28 June

Seven boats came to the line for the Carstairs Cup on 28 June with a forecast of a westerly force 2 to 4 rising to 2 to 5, conditions were blustery to start with easing as the race went on. A late shift after the course had been set meant that the start line became extremely biased resulting in something of a committee boat end pile up.  Alan Hicks in C54 Storm Petrel became the jam in the sandwich and having hit the committee boat was forced to take turns.

It was an extremely close race with C9 retiring after realising an early season mistake of missing out the start line gate between laps.

Overall Results Were:

1. C8 – Egret – Danny  Fox – Finish Time15:41:37
2. C11 – Grayling – John Payne – Finish Time15:42:59
3. C51 – Grethe – Chris Jordan – Finish Time15:43:47
4. C54 – Storm Petrel – Alan Hicks – Finish Time15:45:43
5. C53 – White Spirit – Mark White – Finish Time15:45:49
6. C20 – Ruff – Trevor Stone – Finish Time 15:49:14
RTD – C9 – Bidi – Colin Willett

Hickley Tiller – 5 July

The BOD racing on Brightlingsea Regatta Weekend took place on Sunday 5 July from the CYC line for the Hickley Tiller.  Sunday morning torrential rain which put a number of boats off racing, however, as is so often the way the sky lifted and the sun came out just as the BODs came to the line.  In the end nine boats enjoyed a fantastic race in lovely conditions.  Sadly John Payne and C11 Grayling were over the line at the start and failed to return so the final result was:

1. C32 – Avocet – Jeremy Newman – Finish Time 16.01.43
2. C1 – Jean – Malcolm Goodwin – Finish Time 16.02.40
3. C27 – Rebel – Chris Matthews – Finish Time 16.03.36
4. C18 – Gelasma – Mike Hempstead – Finish Time 16.09.01
5. C53 – White Spirit – Mark White – Finish Time 16.09.17
6. C75 – The Mike – Mark Wilby – Finish Time 16.12.37
7. C55 – Windsprite – James Anderson – Finish Time 16.12.40
8. C20 – Ruff – Trevor Stone – Finish Time 16.15.47

Colne Salver – 12 June 

Sadly conditions were extremely blustery on Sunday 12 June and after discussion with the competitors Race Officer Nick Readings made the sensible decision to call off racing for the day.  It is hoped that this race will be rerun later in the year – more info on this to follow soon.

Thursday Nights

In the Thursday night series Malcolm Goodwin is currently the leading BOD in third place overall.  BODs also fill 6th place (C54 Storm Petrel – Alan Hicks), 10th place (C18 Gelasma – Mike Hempstead), 11th (C16 Dulcet – Phil Rust), 12th (C53 Windsprite – James Anderson) and 13th (C11 Grayling – John Payne).

Thursday 9th July proved to be particularly dramatic for the BOD fleet.  First of all half the BOD fleet managed to be over the line at the start and all failed to go back.  Those scored OCS were Jean, Storm Petrel, Gelasma and Eider.  It was a particularly breezy evening and sadly Ruff got caught out by the conditions and capsized.  Luckily Jeremy Newman and Rob White were on hand in a rescue boat and were able to get her alongside and drag her to safety.  We are delighted to say that the Ruff boys, although somewhat damp, were otherwise unscathed by their early bath and the boat is already back afloat on her mooring and ready to race.