An entry of 330 boats and more than 500 individual competitors from 52 clubs confirmed Chichester Harbour Race Week 2017 as the biggest dinghy regatta on the south coast – and there was glorious sailing for dinghies from the fastest foiling Moths to Optimists. Although the first day’s racing had to be postponed with winds too light and flukey, the rest of the week saw sunshine and generally good breezes, often allowing great planing runs and reaches across the wide waters close to the entrance to the harbour. Fitting in two races on Wednesday meant a full racing programme was completed

Remarkably close racing characterised this year’s event. Often only seconds separated the top finishers and in many of the 18 fleets there was still everything to race for on the Friday, with boats in top three positions tying, or separated by only a point or two.

Positions were closest at the top of the RS400 fleet, with Michael Thomson and Toby Price (Emsworth Slipper SC) finally tying on points with Mike Partridge and Claire Davies (HISC). Tie-break rules came into play, giving Thomson and Price the narrowest of victories.

The Solos had extremely tight racing, too, top three overall Nick Bonner (HISC), Guy Mayger (Felpham SC) and Richard Catchpole (Leigh and Lowton SC) switching positions at the head of the fleet and ending up with only one point difference between each place. Regular winner Andrew Gould (Musto Skiff, Emsworth Slipper SC) needed a good final result in the fast asymmetrics – and proved his superiority with top place on corrected time, to lead his rivals overall with minimum points.

Other minimum-point winners were Tom and Emma Morris (HISC) in the RS200s, with 47 entries the largest fleet, foiling Moth sailor Michael Lennon (HISC), Laser sailor William Birchall (Parkstone YC), Martin Brooks and Neil Wilson (Laser Stratos, Thorney Island SC) in the medium handicap (two-man), Martin Jones (Dell Quay SC) in the Laser Radials, 4.7 sailor Georgia Robertson (Mengeham Rythe SC), Rosie Thompson (HISC) the Optimist winner and Ossie Stewart’s team in the RS Elites.

It is surely rare for a sponsor to win a first prize in an event his company supports, but that was the case for Matthew Walker (Mengeham Rythe SC), managing director of Bentley Walker, who took the Finn trophy thanks to his first place in the final race. And while competitors from harbour clubs, particularly those from host club Hayling Island SC, formed by far the largest contingent of entrants, sailors from further afield did well, with Sammy Isaacs-Johnson of Maidenhead SC (RSAero 5) carrying off the medium handicap one-man trophy and plenty of prize plates going beyond the harbour. As one first-time visitor wrote to the organisers, Chichester Harbour Federation, afterwards: “A great regatta week: we will definitely be back.”

There was a hush at the prizegiving announcement of the club team winners when it became clear that usual winners HISC had been toppled from the top. Emsworth Slipper had chosen their representatives well, and first places in three fleets gave them the trophy

Chichester Harbour Race Week 2018 will run from August 13 to 17. For full 2017 results and links to more action photos see http://chichesterharbourraceweek.sailevent.net

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