Wally Royall's Jabadeo heading for Maenporth. Picture: Peter Wood

Andrew Hunt's Vitalstatistics was a welcome addition to the usual fleet at helford River Sailing Regattas and with a good south westerly breeze, officer of the day, Dr Ian Wort, set a course with a running start.

Up went the spinnakers as the nine yachts headed out into Falmouth Bay towards the mark off Maenporth Beach.

Big Purple got away well on the south side of the river, followed by Jacobi and Gotcha!, while Jetta and Jabadeo sailed off nearer to the north side. The fleet had to round the August Rock buoy, marking the treacherous Gedges Reef, which seems to claim a new victim every year. Jetta and Jabadeo reached the August Rock buoy together, and as helm John Jane called to Jabadeo for water there were only inches between the two J92s.

The spinnaker run continued with Jabadeo getting revenge for being pushed wide by getting past Jetta to windward, followed by Big Purple and Gotcha! With the early starters, Kudu and Hatty already round the Maenporth mark, Jacobi was next to arrive followed by Jetta, Jabadeo, Big Purple and Gotcha! The long beat back to the Dennis mark was uneventful but Jetta seemed to suffer least from the wind shadow below the cliffs of Dennis Head, and hoisted the spinnaker again to chase Jacobi across the River mouth to the Shag mark.

The reachy course probably favoured the J boats with their asymmetric spinnakers, and Jacobi continued to pull away from the fleet round the remaining marks.

Jacobi recorded a win in the first race of the Late Summer Series, having dominated the previous Summer Series with four wins out of five races. Jetta came in second, two minutes later on corrected time, with Gotcha! in third place.

Race Results, Race 1 of the Late Summer Series: 1. Jacobi, (Tony Statham); 2. Jetta, (John Jane); 3. Gotcha! (Stuart Sawyer); 4. Big Purple, (Garth Weaver); 5. Jabadeo, (Wally Royall); 6. Orijin, (Andy Dennis); 7. Vitalstatistics, (Andrew Hunt).

Kudu was the only PY boat to finish with Hatty retiring.

9:53am Tuesday 26th August 2008

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