Etchell Bedrock Trophy 18th/19th June 2011
The Solent gave another pasting to the Etchells fleet over the weekend of June 18th and 19th as they fought over the Bedrock Trophy (donated by double Etchells World Champion Stuart Childerley) with winds on Saturday a sustained 28 knots gusting 35. Cowes Corinthian Yacht Club’s dedicated team led by PRO Andrew Millband got 2 races in using the shelter of Osborne Bay.
None the less the fleet was pretty lonely out on a wind-swept Solent.
Sunday was brighter and sunnier but even though the breeze was mid teens on the way out to the start. The 4 races were run in building pressure which topped out in the mid to high 20’s as the day wore on. There were many new young guns in the fleet who were giving the old timers more than a run for their money.
It all came down to the last race. Despite missing Saturday Gimson and O’Nolan’s team on “Holly Scott” were not far off the lead and the Franks / Bedford / Hall trio were close by, despite, like Meads team, not having won a race so far. As always the Etchells fleet had to race and race hard, despite the paucity of boats still out there and the now solid 25 to 28 knot winds.
The 3 remaining boats all lined up at the committee boat, sails flogging and space tight with Mead first away and in the lead at the top. His spinnaker set was however a disaster, the crew person who had gone overboard breaking the bow shockcord during her 8 out of 10 dismount, and, unbeknownst to the crew, this had become massively tangled in the spinnaker pole end!
While the leaders got into all sorts of strife trying to gybe back to the leeward mark Franks dropped his chute, rounded cleanly and sailed serenely off to the race win. Their Rory McIlroy moment of genius was backed up by a solid “second nine” where they kept it all under control round the last lap to take the bullet and, on count back, the 2011 Bedrock Trophy, from Mead in 2nd and Gimson / O’Nolan in 3rd.
At the end of the day the fleet had seen off the turbulent winds and, only through dogged consistency, seen off the young guns as well, but it bodes well for the future of the class that some of the most competitive young sailors in the country are now campaigning in the class and with the worlds in Italy in 2013, that trend is likely to intensify. For the old guard it’s time to redouble efforts.