t was a downwind start from the Royal Yacht Squadron line. All the other boats in our class were Spirits with symmetric spinnakers while we, on with owner Nic Roach at the wheel, were flying an asymmetric kite and seemingly at a disadvantage by having to cover much more ground. But at the first mark we were very much in touch, and still so after the next two legs – a tight spinnaker reach and close white sail reach. As we began the beat back to Cowes, there were just two Spirits in front of us – which rated a lot higher than so had to give us a fair amount of time, and which rated very slightly lower. Gradually, as significantly greater displacement proved advantageous in the increasing sea state, we gained on to the point where we, on port tack, had to duck under her stern, and then when we came together again, she had to duck us. then pulled away, beating into second place on corrected time by just over a minute. It was second race win at this year’s British Classic Yacht Club annual regatta, having won the Nab Tower Race two days earlier by an even narrower margin. It was also our second race of the day, the first being the Ladies’ Race. At helm for that was 17-year-old Sophie Thom who normally works the foredeck. Her father is Jim Thom who was skipper of the 19-Metre for many years first season over half a century ago – was Cowes sailor John Green.
