This summer there’s been a lot going on in Pollensa, so here’s the bumper report.

 

23 July – Scandy Cup, Pollensa

Donated by Scott and Andy – hence the name – the Scandy Cup is sailed on our favourite type of course – triangles! Three races, all to count.

 

David Miles took the first race, closely followed by the eponymous duo with Michael Clough and Sue Foreman taking third. Many of the other boats were also sailing with different crews, Stephen Babbage crewing for Steve Parry, as fuego fatuo was off the water, and Teresa Parry helming Alan Foreman in Heaven Sent.

 

Second race saw Michael and Sue come though to win, pushing Stormtrooper to second and Spanish Fly third. Scott and Andy had an uncharacteristic sixth in this race. In the final race, Stromtrooper was again victorious, just beating ffiel good, and Speedy Gonzales third.

 

Results:

1	ESP 3610		STORMTROOPER lll					David Miles / Philip Parry			4
2		ESP 3804		Speedy Gonzales			Michael Clough / Sue Foreman			7
3		GBR 3763			FFIEL GOOD	Scott Walker / Andrew Harvey			10

 

24 – July, extra race, Pollensa

 

Sunday saw an extra fun day, with two races. Three boats finished on 4 points, Speedy Gonzales third and first – and so winning on countback, Dragonfly a first and third, and ffiel good two seconds.

 

1	ESP 3804			Speedy Gonzales			Michael Clough / Nigel		4
2	ESP 3600	Dragonfly				Michael Beecken / Swetlana Kruta			4
3	GBR 3763		FFIEL GOOD		Scott Walker / Andrew Harvey			4

 

14 August – Michael Clough Trophy, Pollensa

Unsurprisingly, this race is organised by Michael Clough, with some interesting twists to make the day challenging, and help everyone learn something new. So as usual, Michael invested a lot of thought to make life on the water as complicated as possible. Six up and down races on short courses were scheduled, followed by a secret seventh one. Spinnakers where completely forbidden for the day.
Race one was to be sailed with mainsail only, whilst for the second one, the jib was allowed.
The third and fourth races echoed number one and two, however, each boat had to complete a 720º turn on each of the two legs.

For the final two races, sailed with jib and main, tacks were forbidden and had to be replaced by gybes.
Given all this, there are many options for errors and mistakes, like forgetting to have the jibs rolled in race one and three, tacking instead of gybing, or incomplete turns.
This last is where Dragonfly came to grief, not knowing that a 720º turn is not the same as two 360º ones and so sailed a few meters between the two circles, hoping to keep more speed. This gave rise to much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and Michael – skipper of 3600, was happy that finally the race committee did not withdraw his licence for future races.

 

Race seven turned everything upside down – each boat had to draw numbers from the trophy, which where added to the results. The unexpected result was that the highest number over all became the winner, Susann Spreda drew the number 14 for 3600 Dragonfly, so they took the prize.
At the prize giving in RCNPP Chiringuito, nearly every boat got a trophy – ranging from Asterix books to French Lessons, although the best was Scott´s rubber duck.
For the record, actual results on the water were:

 

GBR	3763	FFIEL GOOD	Scott Walker	1	1	5	2	1	1	11
GBR	3471	TRIFFID	Stephen Parry	2	3	3	1	2	5	16
ESP	3600	Dragonfly	Michael Beecken	4	4	1	3	5	3	20
ESP	3825	SPANISH FLY	John Leaf	6	2	3	4	4	4	23
ESP	3432	Extra Sensory Perseption	Michael Clough	5	5	6	6	3	2	27
ESP	3610	STORMTROOPER lll	David Miles	3	6	2	5	6	6	28

 

 

20 August – Trofeo Cormoran, Pollensa

This traditional regatta starts with a coastal race to Isla Aucanada in the bay of Alcudia. This long race is always a big challenge for the flying fifteens, as it passes into the open waters around Cabos Pinar and Sabater. Also, as the winds are largely thermal, those outside the bays are very different from those within.

The wind at the start was very light and all boats were searching for little patches of wind. Most of the them tried to stay on the Formentor side to use the gusts that build in the bay of Formentor when a northerly component influences the wind. Dragonfly chose the way to the Pinar side of the bay of Pollensa and fell so far behind in low wind parts of the bay that the other boats could hardly be seen anymore.

 

When the boats from the Formentor side had to move across to Pinar they got stuck, but now Dragonfly had reached the south side of the bay and enjoyed the wind close to the coast. Only Triffid found a faster way to Cabo Pinar and left Dragonfly behind until the mark at Aucanada.

 

As the winds became stronger and the fleet turned back upwind, Dragonfly was a little overpowered (as only Michael was sailing) and all the boats passed her. Triffid held her strong first position and won the race. Second was ffiel Good, Obsession third.

 

On Sunday the cruisers and flying fifteens sailed different courses. Both of the up/down races were taken by Ffiel Good, who won the overall trophy. A very good second prize went to Triffid, who sailed a brilliant race keeping the regatta open until the final minutes of the last race. Dragonfly was third.

 

Trofeo Cormoran is a trophy that – if won 5 times by the same boat and skipper, may then be kept by the winner. Not this year!, so until then it stays at RCNPP.

 

Results:

1	GBR 3763		FFIEL GOOD	Scott Walker / Andrew Harvey		4
2	GBR 3471	TRIFFID			Stephen Parry / Teresa Parry	5
3	ESP 3600	Dragonfly			Michael Beecken / Marco Haack	11

 

 

28 August – Trofeo Australia, Pollensa

Only 4 boats appeared for this regatta, coming as it did at the end of holidays, and also the beginning of the European Championships in Holland.

 

Carlos laid a very good triangle course with nice tight reaches on both legs. So we sailed three “triangle/up/down” races, with a constant force 3 from the North East.

fuego fatuo was still off the water, so Stephen crewed with Michael Clough in Speedy Gonzalez, winning all three races, and never passed on the water. So no doubt they were worthy recipients of the trophy. Bad luck! last year, David Miles won the trophy but was off in Holland, whilst the trophy was clean and dry in his home. We hope Mr. Clough can wait for his well-earned prize until David comes back from the Europeans.

 

All the other boats were equally consistent, Scott Walker and Andrew Harvey taking second and John Leaf and Marc Hart third.

 

Results:

1	ESP 3804	Speedy Gonzales			Michael Clough /Stephen Babbage		3
2	GBR 3763		FFIEL GOOD	Scott Walker /Andrew Harvey		6
3	ESP 3825		SPANISH FLY	John Leaf /Mark Hart		9

 

 

Finally, on 9-11 September we held the Campeonato de Baleares – our National Championships, unfortunately too late for press day. We’ll report on that next month. Don’t miss our Open day at the end of October.

Also coming up:

1 October                 Regatta Interclubs, Pollensa

8 October                 Campeonato de Cruzeros de Baleares, Pollensa

29 October               Open Day, Pollensa

30 October               Team racing, Pollensa (provisional)