An impressive 22 Solent Sunbeams ventured from Chichester Harbour to Cowes Classic Week last week, the class’s largest turnout at the regatta.
The mix of 98 year-old and newly launched examples of this much admired class enjoyed incredibly close racing with superb conditions on the challenging waters of the Solent.
Such was the closeness of the racing during the week that five different boats won at least one race and the top six boats were divided equally between the traditional wooden and newer GRP hulls, although the first two boats were wooden.
Congratulations go to overall winners Martin and Vicky Jones in their newly acquired and very beautiful 94-year old Sunbeam, V32 Holly.
Holly managed to hold off Roger Wickens’ V26 Danny to took the regatta win by just two points.
Simon Patterson’s V70 Minty finishing third and V68 Sky of Oliver Gilchrist fourth overall.
Martin, a former International 14 world champion, summed up the week . . . ‘as some of the closest and most enjoyable racing that he and Vicky had enjoyed for a long time, made even more special by racing in such historic boats’.
And the the Solent Sunbeam class just keeps growing . . .
Latest addition to the fleet at Itchenor SC this year is V71 Tiffany, the 11th GRP Solent Sunbeam, launched in mid June for owners David Grylls and Alexandra Rock.
There is also news of yet another GRP Sunbeam – Tilly – being completed by Mylor Yacht Harbour in Falmouth.
Something of a breakthrough for the class, as the Falmouth Sunbeam class rules do not allow GRP boats.
Although there is a temporary addendum to the Falmouth rules for 2021, in which eligibility for racing is extended to include Solent GRP boats that comply with Solent class rules (with some gear modification).
Solent Sunbeams – Cowes Classics Week 2021
1st Holly V32 Martin Jones -4 4 2 1 2 1 1 – – 11 pts
2nd Danny V26 Roger Wickens 2 2 1 2 4 -7 2 – – 13 pts
3rd Minty V70 Simon Patterson 1 3 -4 3 3 4 3 – – 17 pts
4th Sky V68 Oliver Gilchrist 3 -12 8 6 1 8 4 – – 30 pts
5th Argosy V12 Paul Pullen -13 1 6 7 6 2 10 – – 32 pts
6th Tiffany V71 Phil Badger 5 -16 3 4 10 6 8 – – 36 pts
7th Polly V18 Nick Leach 11 5 -14 9 9 3 9 – – 46 pts
8th Betty V61 Peter Taylor -15 13 12 5 8 5 5 – – 48 pts
9th Kitty V47 Simon Perkins 10 7 9 -17 5 12 12 – – 55 pts
10th Query V25 Tim Hill 7 8 13 10 7 13 25 – – 58 pts
11th Maisy V64 S Smith & C Moore 16 10 5 8 -18 16 6 – – 61 pts
12th Harmony V11 P Green & D O’Kelly 9 9 10 11 20 24 7 – – 66 pts
13th Dainty V1 Peter Nicholson 6 11 15 -20 17 9 11 – – 69 pts
14th Symphony V33 Rupert Eastwood 8 24 7 16 12 18 13 – – 74 pts
15th Serendipity V72 Adrian Edwards -18 6 16 13 14 17 15 – – 81 pts
16th Molly V66 Tina Webster 17 15 18 12 -22 10 14 – – 86 pts
17th Melody V36 John Tanner 20 24 11 14 11 14 17 – – 87 pts
18th Little Lady V6 Gayle Palmer 12 14 17 15 15 -20 16 – – 89 pts
19th Alchemy V65 Tamsin Saunders 14 17 -19 19 16 11 18 – – 95 pts
20th Jenny V27 Phillip Ingham 19 25 20 18 19 15 25 – – 116 pts
21st Bryony V13 William Bodey -21 18 21 21 21 19 19 – – 119 pts
22nd Mystery 16 Viv Williams 25 25 25 25 13 25 25 – – 138 pts
23rd Spray V46 Alan Stannah 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 – – 150 pts
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