19 cruisers passed the club on Saturday lunchtime, in what turned out to be a thrilling and close Brown Cup race between the Marconi representatives.
Crazy Suzy and Monkey Business were at the head of the fleet with Blue Moon and McGregor 3 in hot pursuit. Sailing the longest course on the card, Ned Kelly had a close boat race towards the back of the fleet, whilst Caroline swapped positions throughout.
After the turn at Wallet No3, Crazy Suzy took the lead all the way home on the windward leg, whilst McGregor 3 got ahead of all the other IRC boats on the water. Blue moon remained close on her transom, always close enough to be ahead of her on corrected time and approaching Colne Bar the team on Blue Moon looked as if they might have overhauled series leader, Absolution.
Monkey Business then started her charge back up the Blackwater in an attempt to claw back her time, and by the time she had rounded No12 off Bradwell she had passed, Behave and McGregor. Absolution had got back into the groove on the homeward leg and was now 2nd on the water behind Crazy Suzy, it was now all about, how much time Monkey Business might get ahead of McGregor and Blue Moon whilst Triton, not far behind, would also have a say in the final positions of this exciting IRC race.
Absolution (Eric Reynold – Maylandsea) finished 1st on corrected time after more than 6.5 hours of racing.
Blue Moon (Richard Robarts – MSC) had a super race in 2nd place, beating Monkey Business (Dave Onyons – MSC) by 1:47 mins who were 3rd. Triton (Peter Copsey – BSC) was just 62 secs back in 4th place whilst McGregor 3 (Steve Purdue) was a further 70 secs behind.
All 7 IRC rated boats finished within 20 minutes of each other on the water, and on corrected time, the first 5 boats were separated by just 7:48 mins
Using the BJRC local handicaps on which all 19 boats in the fleet are scored, Steve Purdue and Monica Wolff racing McGregor for just the 3rd time, came out on top and are this years winners of the MLSC Brown Cup.
The full results and report can be found here on the BJRC website.
Next BJRC race is in 2 weeks time, but this coming weekend see’s the Marconi offshore racers on Woozle Hunter attempt to clinch the EAORA offshore title. Have a good one guys!