A double win for West Mersea Yacht Club boats in the first two EAORA races

On May 10 and 11 the first two East Anglian Offshore Racing Association races took place in unbroken sunshine. First came the Royal Burnham YC’s Ralph Herring trophy –from West Mersea to Burnham on Crouch. The Herring family have always had a strong Association with EAORA. Tim and Cathy Herring had the Julian Everett designed Backlash, which was successfully raced on the East and South Coasts in the 1980’s

The race started slightly later that usual which gave race officers Andy Wise and Brian Bolton the option to send the fleet through the Spitway, the buoyed channel between the Buxey and Gunfleet sands.

It was an exciting beat out to the Knoll, with Richard Matthew’s Carkeek 52 Oystercatcher XXXV looking impressive and stretching her legs on the fleet behind. On the long downwind leg from the Whitaker channel, Simon Faron with Warrior, an A40RC with ten crew, made up some time, having selected to fly a big symmetrical S2.

Ideally yachts needed to keep out the tide and some deeper draft entries were unable to benefit from this. Eventually the wind filled in from the south and a couple of yachts used this to their advantage. The finish lane was at the entrance to the Crouch.

Royal Burnham YC put on a dinner for the competitors with fine wine and plenty of beer. Jonathan McCall won the Mocra trophy with his trimaran Shockwave and was happy to keep it topped up with rum, making numerous laps of the bar!

West Mersea YC’s Pattinson Cup – from Burnham back to Mersea – followed the next day with almost identical sailing conditions, again unbroken sunshine and a steady breeze, but a foul tide beat soon shook off a few hangovers from the night before.

It was tough short tacking for all, especially for Richard Matthew’s Oystercatcher XXXV, but once clear of the narrow channel between the Foulness and Buxey sands she was off into the distance. It was a downwind finish from Barrow No 3 – champagne sailing in the sunshine.

It was a challenging weekend for the fleet, with a couple of yachts finding the soft mud trying to keep out the tide, which made the results interesting reading.

EAORA welcomes all competitors – and was especially pleased to see Richard Hudson from Medway YC, with J92 Why Not, starting his first full season.

In 1959 a total of 74 yachts raced in both the Pattinson Cup and Ralph Herring races. It is a very different scenario these days, but EAORA is still strong and those who race find enjoyment both on the water and with friendly post-race banter among the crews.

A double win for West Mersea YC has thrown down the gauntlet for the inter-club championship trophy – which hasn’t been won by the club since 1997.

Full results at www.eaora.org.uk/results

The next EAORA event will be the RORC North Sea Race on Friday May 30.