A fantastic Autumn morning, with a clear blue sky and a building breeze from the southeast greeted the 29 boats taking part in the traditional end of season Dyer Cup race. This is an all-in handicap race sending the fleet down river to Doctor, then back upriver to Herring Point before finishing at the club line.

This year the fleet ranged from a foiling Moth and an IQ-Foil windsurfer, both starting from a PY of 490, through to the doublehanded Mirror’s with a PY of 1390. As was shown by last years winner, Julie Nelson, sailing a Mirror, it isn’t exclusively the fast boats that could win this one.

A Committee boat start was set up at Clarks, with a long start line from Clarks to Osea Road, giving a tight fetch down the river to Doctor. The fleet got away first time, despite several boats pushing as close to the line as they possibly could to get away in clear air. Best starts were Rob Carver, Laser, Brett Townsend, Solo, Guy Welch, Snipe, and Charlie Stewart, Fireball. Charlie Dixon, recently crowned IQ Foil World Youth Champion, hit the line at full speed a few seconds after the start gun, and made it clear that he was the man to catch! Gareth Davies in his Foiling Moth was never far away from Charlie, and the pair were being chased hard by Rory Dixon in his Waszp.

After the fetch to Doctor, the fleet turned to head back upriver, a tight reach allowing some spinnakers to be flown, but for others it appeared frustratingly too tight to hold them.

Chasing Gareth and Charlie, the Fireball was enjoying a fast 3 sail reach all the way to Hilly Pool and seemed to be in contention while Mike Iszatt in his RS600 was setting a blistering pace. Other mid-race contenders were Andy and Florence Pickering, Mirror, Jess Welch and Hugh Andrews in their Laser 4.7’s, who were enjoying their own private match race right up to the finish. Other races within the race were Brett Townsend and Ian Smith, continuing their season long duelling in their Solo’s, and Jess Finch and Gary Ling enjoying a close tussle in their Laser Radial’s.

Leading cruiser was Breezy, John Dyer and team, but not flying their spinnaker on the tight reach, it wasn’t going to be their day.

The fleet rounded Hilly Pool for a long beat up to Herring Point, followed by a fast run back downriver to the finish. Gareth and Charlie finished just four seconds apart, in an incredible race time of just 16 minutes!

After finishing, there was the lure onshore of the cakes and drinks being served as part of the Macmillan Charity cake event, but others chose to go back downriver and make the most of the stunning October afternoon. 

Sheena Berney and her team on the bridge turned around the results very quickly, whilst competitors enjoyed some well deserved cake, and a prizegiving was held in the sunshine on the patio. It is a lesson to us all that the first three winners all missed the prizegiving because they were still on the water practicing!

Thanks to the generous support of our members the event raised £600 for Macmillan Cancer Support and £400 for the RNLI. 

Results:

1st Charlie Dixon, IQ Foil

2nd Gareth Davies, Int. Moth

3rd Rory Dixon, Waszp

1st Cruiser – Breezy, John Dyer

1st Club Cruiser – Ffumbler, George Whitchurch and Jonathan Payne

1st Slow Handicap – Andy and Florence Pickering, Mirror

1st Cadet – Rory Dixon

1st Slow Handicap Cadet – Jess Welch, Laser 4.7

Photos © Steve Perkins, Tracy Haigh, Peter Gould

Steve Perkins, Hon Sailing Secretary