Supersonic first in Royal Cornwall Yacht Club's annual Stewards' Cup (From Boating Cornwall)

Supersonic first in Royal Cornwall Yacht Club's annual Stewards' Cup

10:50pm Thursday 9th June 2011 in Falmouth

There was a good turnout of the IRC Class 1 Yachts for the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club’s annual Stewards’ Cup at the weekend. A slight breeze greeted competitors and a course of three rounds was set in Carrick Roads, which allowed the race officer to shorten if the wind failed as it tends to in the evenings.

At the start, Jitterbug which has the lowest handicap in the class was over the line and had to return to restart. Insatiable, Miss Whiplash and Daring headed into the middle of the Roads on the beat towards the windward mark near the docks. It transpired that there was a little more wind in the middle and more tacks were put in by the leading three. At the windward mark, it was very close as they rounded in the same order for the long run, with spinnakers to north bank. Miss Whiplash gybed early and gained an advantage over Insatiable and started the beat to Trefusis ahead. Once again, there was more wind in the middle of Carrick Roads and Daring gained on the others. Insatiable tacked to cover and just managed to cross ahead and established a lead with continual tacking. Down the fleet, all boats that tacked into the middle benefitted including Supersonic.

With the wind dying, it looked odds on that a shorten course signal would end the race at Trefusis mark, but the race officer decided on a short leg to the Windward mark before finishing. Insatiable and Miss Whiplash rounded Trefusis and ran out of wind with no sign of any new breeze from anywhere. With the last of the flood tide, the race then became a waiting game and finally, these two yachts decided to call it a day and retire and another five did the same.

Those who decided to sit it out, were rewarded after about 20 minutes with a faint breeze which allowed seven yachts to gain a finish. Supersonic, which had recovered well from a poor first beat was the first of these and crossed the shortened course finish line first to win the Stewards Cup by a comfortable margin on handicap. Excelle also persevered and was rewarded with a second on handicap to push Daring back into third. Jitterbug, after re-starting, recovered to fourth.

Results: 1, Supersonic (J and V Cunliffe); 2, Excelle (J Fox); 3, Daring (D & C Bloor); 4, Jitterbug (J Hicks).