The Folly Race
Martin Stewart writes: The Folly Race took place over the weekend of May 31 / June 1.
Although ESC was short on numbers, Philip Poyner in 'Morning Bird' and Richard Johnson in 'Wanda' proudly flew the flag for ESC. Both deserve high praise for the challenging conditions they faced, particularly the first race on Saturday.
As I had volunteered to be the RO, I made an early start in my motorboat Dolphin to get out to the start line in good time. However, what I hadn't expected was a very thick sea mist where visibility varied between 50 and 100 yards. Thank goodness for both radar and AIS on 'Dolphin' which really came into its own as it guided me safely out of the entrance harbour. What kept going through my mind was as RO, how does one go about starting a race in such conditions if I couldn't see one end of the start line to the other.
On my way out to the Chi racing mark, I received a call from Jennie, the ESC cruiser captain to say that she was still stuck in Portsmouth Harbour due to the very poor visibility and would not be attempting to leave until the visibility had improved. However, as it was, she had already run out of time to get to the start-line so when the mist did lift, she would head straight to Yarmouth and would join in the evening social at the Royal Solent YC.
Fortunately, the mist did clear an hour before the start, so in total 11 boats got away as planned. However, the British weather being what it is rarely plays ball, and that day was no exception. For the first couple hours, the wind was very light, and progress was painfully slow especially for the slower handicap boats. But it wasn't long before the wind changed and in a short space of time picked up strength to a F5 from the West. This resulted in the boats having to beat against some very unwelcome rough weather with a strong wind against tide. It was at this point that the majority of the fleet took the decision that there was a good chance that the tide would change against them before they reached Yarmouth, and if they did stick it out, it was going to be a very uncomfortable ride. On this basis, 8 of the 11 starters took the decision to retire and either motor the rest of the way to Yarmouth or divert into Cowes or Gosport. This resulted in just 3 boats completing the course which included Philip Poyner in Morning Bird.
For the return race on Sunday, the consensus of the crews was to race back through the Solent and not round the South of the IOW. Fortunately, the wind was much kinder compared to the previous day and the 7 boats that started all finished.
In the end when the results for both days were added together, ESSC were the clear winners and should be congratulated. However, Philip Poyner came a very credible third overall and being the first ESC boat in this event wins the King Scott Trophy.... Very well done!