Fed Week Results 2007

	Event	Class	Results
S E R I E S 1	1	Fast Asymmetric 899 & below	HERE
	2	RS 700	HERE
	3	Med’ Asymmetric 900 ~ 1009	HERE
	4	RS400	HERE
	5	Fast H’cap 1035 & below	HERE
	6	RS Elite	HERE
	7	Flying Fifteens	HERE
	8	Finn	HERE

S E R I E S 2	9	RS200	HERE
	10	Laser	HERE
	11	Wayfarer	HERE
	12	Medium H’cap 1036 ~ 1175	HERE
	13	Laser Radial & 4.7	HERE
	14	Solo	HERE
	15	RS Feva	HERE

3	16	Topper	HERE
	17	Slow H’cap 1176 ~ 1449	HERE
	18	Optimist	HERE

Chichester Harbour Federation Regatta raced from Hayling Island Sailing Club, started in bright sunshine attracting over 380 entries for the first day across the eighteen classes.

For the early starters in Series 1 the south westerly 15 knot breeze was 235 but backed to 220 for the later fleets. The first mark was Calvert and provided a long beat against a strong flooding tide. Without exception every boat in every fleet sailed straight over to the East Head shore to cheat the adverse tide, suggesting that everyone has now read Roger Palmer’s bible on how to win at Fed Week!

In the Fast Asymmetrics the two Interntional 14s of Andy Partington and Mike Lennon quickly established a strong lead which Andy extended to the finish, to remain 1^st on corrected time. Following the 14s on the water were the RS800 of Nick Peters and Caroline Litchfield and the Musto skiff of Richard Lovering. In the 700’s Jerome Baker sailed an excellent race to win convincingly. In the Medium Asymmetrics the conditions favoured the Laser 4000’s and 29ers and, after a great battle the Laser 4000 of Anna Perkins and Oli Woods took the gun on the water from the 29er of Becky Hyde and Gemma McIntyre, who won on corrected time. A smaller than usual but nonetheless highly competitive RS400 fleet saw a great race between 528, Roy and Louisa Sievers from Thorney Island and 461, Paul and Matt Stainsby from Queen Mary with the latter taking the gun by just a few seconds. In the fast handicap the race was dominated on the water by Tim Weedon’s RS 300, who beat Contender 2191 Richard Keevil and Christian Reynolds, RS600 980 on corrected time. The Elites saw a good win for Mike Mountifield sailing No 6 with Paul Carpenter and Greg Lamb. Miles Odell and Andy Streeter made a perfect start in their Flying Fifteen at the pin end, giving them an early lead which they held comfortably to the finish. There was a close battle for 2^nd between Mike McIntyre and Andrew Jameson which Andrew took by just a few seconds. A welcome sight was the entry of 21 Finns, all making a text book start on the line at the gun. John Tremlett 642, making his regular Fed week appearance, powered through to take the win by a sizeable margin.

On Series Two the steady wind strength and direction with strong adverse tide ensured all classes started without recall. The largest fleet of The Regatta, The RS200s, took almost 5 minutes s to clear the line, with most boats across all fleets taking in excess of 2 hours to complete the course.

In the Solo fleet there was a great tussle between the leaders of Tony Catchpole, Tim Randall, Nick Rawlings and David MacGregor, all HISC with MacGregor eventually taking the gun when Tony Catchpole had a swim on the last beat. In the Handicap fleet the 420 of Georgie Andrew and Millie Parkin, HISC was first across the water and on corrected time. The Fevas of Alex Poyner and Holly Tucker, 1582, ESC and Chris West and Lucy Goff, 1185, DQSC beat the father / daughter combination of Rob and Harriet Cage, 1545, from Bewl Valley.

Most enjoyed an exciting sail but for some the increasing wind strength and choppy waters proved a struggle.

The new course configuration on Series 3 with the start one side of the committee boat and the gate / finish line on the other, worked well. A fairly large triangular course was set for the first of two races, with all boats away cleanly for the first race. The strong breeze meant that the Toppers only took about 10 minutes to complete the first triangular circuit. With Toppers and Slow Handicap finished, the Oppies still had a round to complete, so their course was shortened. The second start was set with a slightly longer line and more port bias. The Toppers had a very close start with one OCS who duly came back. The Slow Handicap started conservatively whilst the Oppies were all on the line at the start, similarly with one OCS. This time all classes completed both rounds. One Optimist executed a spectacular nosedive on the final run, recovered thanks to a courageous bailing effort, and managed to finish successfully.

Team nominations for the Inter Club Trophy will be accepted up until the first start of the next sailed race.

Wednesday’s racing

All competitors are warned that The Regatta Committee will be using every endeavour to conduct Wednesday’s racing.

Tuesday’s race is postponed until 1200hrs on Thursday 16^th with Thursday’s Race to follow immediately afterwards.

Tuesday’s first race is postponed until 1230hrs on Thursday 16^th with Thursday’s 1^st + 2^nd Races to follow immediately afterwards.

Tuesday’s second race is postponed, and is proposed to follow Friday’s race.

Following two days of no racing, it was decided to schedule two races for Series 1 & 2, the first race being Tuesday’s postponed race. Therefore, racing commenced a full two and a half hours before high water and the last boat finished two hours after. Thankfully it was a very high tide with a long hold before the ebb really got going. Low pressure systems do have some uses! A special course was used for race 1 to ensure a shorter race and quicker turnaround and it worked well, although the 13/15knots of breeze at the start had increased to a good 25knots by lap 2. This led to some exciting sailing for some, lessons in swimming for others, and unfortunately the breaking of masts and gear for a few.

It was a very busy harbour but the performers from Mondays racing were once again evident at the front of most of the fleets. In Series 1, there was a notable performance in the Flying Fifteens first race when class stalwarts Roger and Barbara Palmer used their extensive harbour knowledge to record a well earned and popular victory. Father and son team of Andy and Tom Partington have recorded 3 bullets and won the Fast Asymmetrics. Likewise, local legend John Tremlett has won the Finns.

In Series 2, the RS200 fleet sailed the complete course while the rest were shortened, enabling most boats to finish within approximately 30mins of each other. For Series 3, the first race of the day was Tuesday’s first postponed race, followed by the scheduled races for Thursday. As soon as there was enough tide over the west mud, the course was set with the same layout as Monday. A strong flood tide pushing boats over the line caused general recalls for both Toppers and Optimists, but the slow handicap got away cleanly. Michael King won the first race in the Toppers, David Jones in his Mirror won the Slow Handicap and Anthony Parke won the Oppies. In the second race, Jamie Catchpole won the Oppies and Mark Oakey the Toppers but both Slow Handicap starters retired.

With three races now sailed and a discard becoming available after Fridays racing some classes are already sewn up but most are still wide open, as is the highly competitive inter-club trophy which is far from decided!