The Dolphins consider Poole Week their Championships ...
This year there was a very healthy entry of 12 boats for the event. Race 1 was a circum navigation of the harbour in light winds, firstly beating to ‘Hutchins’, followed by a reach to ‘Piccadilly’ where upon the fleet became
becalmed and drifted down the Wych finally making it to ‘Ellis Jones’ only to find D7 Arripay had already rounded the mark and was heading for ‘Nat West’ having sailed around the south side of Brownsea.
A smart move, unfortunately they had not read the SI that prohibited such a move.By the time the race had progressed to ‘Haven’ the final mark there was no less than seven boats in contention for a finish all to cross the line within a minute, D34 New Moon the victor from D41 Punch and Judy.Race 2 was a three lap figure of eight and was a taste of what was to come with windy conditions with a very close contest with the lead changing every lap with D34 New Moon taking the honours from D35 Piccadilly. By Race 3 the conditions were not for the faint hearted with 5 boats deciding to stay ashore. D35 Piccadilly showed her ability to match the conditions to lead D34 New Moon over the line.
With Wednesday’s racing being abandoned, and Thursday offering two races most boats returned to the fray, many were well reefed to cope with conditions. The competition in both races was close, however, the boats with full mains proved the value of the extra sail area down wind with D35 Piccadilly first closely followed by D32 Phoenix in both races.
At the beginning of the week it looked as if it was going to be Nigel Yeoman’s year in D34 New Moon with wins in Races 1 and 2, However, as the week progressed Nick Young showed his indomitable style in gusty conditions with wins for Races 3, 4 and 5 after a second place in race 2 to take first place overall. Nigel held on to second place and Giles Vigar in D32 Phoenix was a very credible third. Overall the week showed the healthy competitive state of racing that exists in the Dolphin class leading towards its centenary year in 2010.
Alan Hescroff
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