BOATS lined up at Royal Cornwall Yacht Club for a race round Pendennis Point and across to Maenporth before hurtling back on Friday, writes Harold Martin.

It was the middle of the flood tide, so on starting, to avoid this the IRC One fleet stayed close in under the Trefusis headland which also protected them and perhaps mislead them from the full force of the breeze.

There was 100 per cent low grey cloud cover which gave very poor visibility and the gusts of wind on the cliff above the docks were icy.

As the procession neared Governor buoy, Black Dog was in the lead being chased by Pascos Jaguar, Daring, Jackdaw and Vindscreen Viper with Miss Whiplsash and Orijin at the back.

As they disappeared going south, the IRC Two fleet appeared following the same course with a Sigma in the lead followed by Encore who was chased by Scorpion.

Suddenly, an infringement meant Tresillian had to do a 360 degree penalty turn, which left him at the very back of the class but chasing hard.

When the first fleet reached Pendennis they turned to starboard for the beat across the bay in a south westerly towards Maenporth.

In the Roads, the sea state was flat but the bay was exposed to the full force of the wind which gusted up to 34 knots according one anemometer.

These conditions spread out the fleet because some stood out to sea while others closed in towards Pennance Point hoping for protection from the wind and flatter seas, with the bigger boats pulling away.

The breeze freshened with more areas of white water appearing, generally further off shore.

Just after 7pm, the first white spinnaker was hoisted aboard Black Dog who started the wild charge tacking downwind towards the point and in the gusts they must have exceeded ten knots leaving a long white wash behind them.

It was another three minutes wait in the Arctic wind before the next spinnaker was seen, but no one could match the leaders's speed or skill off the wind and they crossed the finishing line well ahead of the fleet.

Pascos Jaguar was charging in pursuit, well behind the leader when they were hit by a violent squall which overpowered them.

The boat was laid over with the end of the spinnaker pole in the water, which then came off the mast under huge pressure.

The mainsail flogged on the now stationary boat and in the stiff wind it took some time to sort out the problems.

One of the crew ended up to his waist in the water but happily nobody was hurt.

The easily recognisable black tri-radial were being flown well on Scorpion and the red reacher on Vindscreen Viper which gave them great speed and they overtook some much larger displacement boats.

After the race all the crews said that they had enjoyed exciting sport on a course well chosen by Richard Freeborn, but they needed their well earned suppers.

RESULTS

IRC ONE

1st Orijin

2nd.Vindscreen Viper

3rd Black Dog

IRC TWO

1st Excelle

2nd Encore

3rd Scorpion