The evil forces of the dark side finally triumph over good at the Martin 242 Intergalactic Championships!

Oct 10, 2019

Reto Corfu, Phil Cragg, and special guest star Yury Levkovskiy

Back in Black (#13) sailed by a three-man crew of Reto Corfu, Phil Cragg, and special guest star Yury Levkovskiy (who raced most of this season on Electra) managed the win, on a weekend filled with rain, wind shifts, puffs, and wind-shadow dodging. Michael Clements and crew on Too Wicked (normally #304, but with a surprise #2 on his sail this weekend, which I can only assume was for sneaky camouflage reasons) managed to squeak out 2nd place, just two points clear of 3rd place Dirty Dog (#282) sailed by Matt Collingwood and crew.

from left, the white boat is Checkmate owned by Cedric Carter; the red boat is Simply Red owned by Alan Drinkwater; the white boat is Christian Bligh owned by Colin Potter

English Bay served up some classic south-easterly conditions, putting a premium on staying on the lifted tack and sailing towards the pressure. Being on the wrong side of a shift or missing a puff often meant a big loss in the tightly packed competitive fleet, with many of the boats in the fleet managing to get some good results. Notably Min of Mine (raced by Jeremy and Tara Smith and crew from across the Strait) looked threatening early with a 2nd place and a bullet in the first two races, and Ambergris, also picking up a bullet on day 2, surely would have been in contention if not for having missed day 1.

We managed to get eight races in over the two days with conditions varying from very light up to 12-14 knots or so. The 6m fleet had a great turnout for this regatta, but combined with the Stars, Farrs, and Dragons on the course, clear lanes were often hard to come by. Despite their proximity to the racecourse, the tankers didn’t seem to get in the way too much.

The rain only fell intermittently, the sandwiches and cookies onboard were excellent (our secret weapon), and the tight racing made for a great weekend…Back in Black now officially becomes Fastest Ship in the Galaxy. Until next year…

See the full list of results as part of the RVYC One Design Series here.