Seasalter Sailing Club

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Open Fowley Island Race

Weather : Cloudy, Air Temp. : 25c, Sea State : Choppy, Wind : 18-25mph

Overall Winners : David Williams and Ian Rhodes (Tornado) - Whitstable Yacht Club

First Club Boat : Martin and Janet Searle (Dart 15) (6th Overall)

Race Report from Martin Searle on Dart 15 1331.

Five visitors from Whitstable, sailing 4 tornados and 1 hurricane,  joined the 7 club boats from Seasalter for the annual Open Fowley Island race. Fowley Island is situated about 7 miles down the swale river near the entrance to Conyer Creek. The fleet included 2 time Olympic competitors David Williams and Ian Rhodes who are former members of Seasalter and are current members of Whitstable Yacht Club.

In winds that were very blustery at times a downwind start was set from the club, since the trip to the island and back was to be a downwind\upwind course given the wind direction. This made for a rather fast start.  Shortly after crossing the line the Tornados and Hurricane from Whitstable all raised their Gennikers and blasted off down the river !, leaving the Seasalter boats wallowing in their wake. This was too be expected since Tornados are a mite quick. So having waved bye bye to the visitors the rest of the fleet were making steady progress down the run. The fleet was soon spread out with the faster Dart 18's of Joan and Steve Willis and Steve London and Josh Humphries leaving the Dart 15s of Eric Sales and Kathleen Baker and Martin & Janet Searle behind.

Martin didn't make the best of the run and found himself dead last on the water with Eric Sales a good 300 or so yards in front. Martin reported that at one stage he dragged his rudder blades along a submerged mud bank near to Fowley Island. On the run to Fowley there was only one capsize with the Hurricane of local Seasalter sailor Mike Jefferies capsizing on a gybe. The Dart 15's passed the hurricane in mid river just off Fowley Island turned turtle but with the crew safe. Mike and Vanessa later managed to get the boat back onto its side and then were righted by a passing cruiser, they retired from the race and returned to the club without further incident.

As the Dart 15s approached Fowley Island the Tornados and remaining Hurricane were seen once more driving hard up the beat back towards Seasalter. David Williams and Ian Rhodes looked to have a good lead on their clubmates, with all of the tornado helms and crews out on the wire. A very impressive sight.

Martin and Eric both made successful, if uneventful, roundings of the island and began the long, slog back upwind to the club. Eric had a very healthy 400 yard lead on Martin. In the distance we could see the others having what looked to be very close racing, especially amongst the two Dart 18s. Martin decided that in order to beat Eric he needed to pull all the stops out this was despite having a guest crew along (his mum !) who had never been in a cat in that wind strength before. In the battle  that ensued between the two 15's the shiftyness of the wind began to favour Martin who found that he was able to sail past the mainland side of Harty Ferry by passing over the concrete jetty without hitting it and then was able to get past one of the bends in the river without tacking all with favourable windshifts, which Eric had had to do to get round it. 

Eric was still in the lead on arriving off Faversham creek but his lead had been eaten away and he was now only a 100 yards in front. With the increase in choppyness in the waves following the exit into the rivers estuary Eric began to slow down with Martin still sailing the boat hard. Martin opted for a much more closer in-shore route than Eric and this proved decisive. Martin finished 1 minute or so ahead of Eric at the line.

The dart 18s of Joan Willis and Steve London reported that they had a royal battle themselves on the upwind beat back, they regulary swapped the lead with Joan Willis snatching the on the water lead at the finish to win by about 30seconds.

So when all the handicaps were worked out the visitors had trounced the home sailors with the first 5 places going to them. David Williams and Ian Rhodes won overall, apparently they split their Jib and Mainsail during the race so their bottles of wine and the knowledge of winning the Rhodes Willams trophy was slightly dampend. But that is sailing !. Martin and Janet beat the Dart 18 of Joan and Steve Willis by a mere 3 seconds to become the first club boat home and 1,730 seconds behind the winners !.

All in all a very nice race with some interesting moments !, and not too mention a few bruises and aching muscles.