In preparation for the 6 Metre European Championship the hosting Royal Cornwall Yacht Club had invited all 6 Metres to the British Open – 27 boats entered of which 16 sailing together in the Classics division which includes the Rule 2 and Rule 3 boats (theoretically also Rule 1 boats though unfortunately we have not seen any Rule 1 entries for quiet some time now).
The British Open are a two day regatta held just outside Falmouth, south of the river. A nice long starting line, excellent race committee and the beauty of almost 30 boats competing. Slight rain the first morning and very shifty winds but as the day progressed the wind stabilized and settled light – good conditions for LUCIE. Every boat in the competition had the one or the other little mishap during the three races of the first day but that’s what these warm up regattas are for. After all most of the boats traveled from far away and were put back together just one or two days before – and with the complexity of these boats in race mode some tuning definitely is necessary.
LUCIE’s results on the first day were a bit inconsistent with an 8th, a 1st and a 4th – but definitely at the top of the the fleet. We came home after a long day with only minor repairs and adjustments necessary, then enjoyed dinner at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club and tucked in early for the second day with an 8:15 boat call.
The second day started with very light winds, lots of sun – and a 2 hour AP. A good opportunity to get the measurement for the upcoming Europeans out of the way.
First start of the second day was shortly after noon time and it was clear from the first start that all boats had learned their lessons from day 1: better timing to the line, very consistent starts, early choice for either one side of the course, good spinnaker sets at the windward mark thruout the fleet. Amongst the leading five boats of the classic
fleet we saw several photo finishes and lots of neck to neck racing – this for sure is a very competitive and close fleet.
At the end of day two and with five races completed (including one striker) LUCIE came in 4th place with one (!!) point missing to third place and only three points to second. Room for improvement next week.
LUCIE is taking a lay day on Sunday to get rested for the (at least) four day European Championship regatta – we are looking forward to Monday…
Jens
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