Saskia Clark of Berkeley Marine took the pictures and also wrote a brief report that appeared on The Daily Sail and Yachts and Yachting websites, reproduced here:

It was time for the Guinness Stand banter to stop and let the performances on the water do the talking.

Wednesday 12th January dawned with bright sunshine and blustery winds and 6 teams entered into the inaugural Berkeley Marine Exhibitors Challenge. A quick glance through the entry list revealed an impressive line up, including Olympians, GBR Challenge sailors and National, European and World Champions past and present.

The race management team from the Royal Thames got racing underway in the Berkeley Marine First Class 8s. A dockside start line and P course around the Dock provided ample opportunity for hoisting, dropping and drama all viewed by the spectators from the Novotel balcony.

The Race1 Team stamped their authority on the event from the start with 3 straight bullets. Race 3 of 5 finally saw the Gul/Purple Team get their act together but it was too little too late. Race1 had already sailed away with the title and a consistent series by Team Dolphin Sails put them firmly in second with Team Gul/Purple in 3rd. A ‘spectacular’ final race by the Victor Boats team saw them slip down the rankings into 4th place, as a crash and broken mast brought them grinding to a halt. The Royal Navy and Sailing Holidays Teams had a combination of experience and cruising sailors so opted against using spinnakers, finishing in 5th and 6th place respectively.

A few hours out of the Boat Show, a bit of drama and a blast around in some fantastic boats ensured that everyone went back into the show refreshed and happy.

To get involved with next years Exhibitors Challenge ring now to book your place!

2005 Results:

There follows the full Race1 report of the event with a selection of pictures.
More pictures can be found on www.berkeleymarine.co.uk.

Berkeley Marine started a new event at the Schroders London Boat Show with The Berkeley Marine Exhibitors Challenge held on Wednesday 12th January. This was open to any marine industry companies exhibiting at the show and was held in Berkeley Marine’s First Class 8s that were used for various events during the show on the Docklands waters.

Race1 had the next-door stand to Berkeley Marine at the show, and are also project managing the refurbishment of "Cracker", the Race1 Ker 11.3 that Berkeley Marine has recently acquired, and so they enthusiastically joined into the event.

A strong Race1 team was formed consisting of International 8 Metre World Champion Philip Crebbin as skipper and helmsman, Freddie Hall as genoa and spinnaker trimmer and Lucy Burn, normally helmswoman of an aspiring Olympic Yngling team, on the bow. Graham Sunderland of Winning Tides, also an exhibitor at the show with his excellent new electronic and printed tidal current atlas of the Solent and the Isle of Wight, joined the team to act as main trimmer and tactician. However, he was unable to supply an analysis of the tidal currents in the Docklands and so it was proposed that this would have to be his next project!

The expected entry of 8 teams was reduced to 6 on the day, enabling the races to be run with all participating, rather than there being knock-out heats and a final. Malcolm McKeag of the Royal Thames Yacht Club, who were running the races, introduced the rules of the event to the assembled teams – the primary rule being that there were no rules!! The event was not being run under ISAF rules as everybody was representing their companies and so could possibly be deemed to be getting paid for going sailing by somebody who wanted to be difficult about it. To avoid potential problems in the future for those who normally sail as amateurs, the event was therefore being run outside ISAF jurisdiction and the ISAF rules. So no rules applied, but there would be umpires on the water who had authority to award penalties at their discretion, with a boat then obliged to do an immediate 360o penalty turn with the spinnaker head below the gooseneck if it was up.

An indefinite number of races were going to be held with all to count, the aim being to finish no later than 14.30. The blustery wind was blowing reasonably up and down the dockland water in front of the Novotel hotel, but was very streaky and shifty as could be expected on a small water surrounded by high buildings. A P-type course was set with an upwind leg from the start followed by a long downwind leg with a passing mark to one side of the bridge in the middle, another upwind back to the bridge mark and then a fetch across from the bridge mark to a mark below the start/finishing line with a very short upwind to the finish. All races were one round except for the third race which was two rounds. Five races were held in all.

The starting line was interesting with the starboard end being a barge moored along the dock edge with a small committee boat in the middle of the water at the port end. The gusts of wind generally blew a little more consistently down the starboard edge and so the starboard end was often the most favoured, but by no means all the time.

The Race1 tactician called for the starboard end and the Race1 team were the most starboard boat in all 5 races, outmanoeuvring the other boats going for that end, except on one occasion choosing to tack below the most starboard boat and then pushing it over the line to make their start even better when the other boat was recalled! However the vagaries of the wind meant that they were not always first to the first mark, several times having boats that had passed behind them out to the starboard side then coming back in front. Most often several boats would arrive together at the first mark and it was then a close fight both to get round the mark and also down the run.

In the early races, Race1 handled their boat significantly better than the other teams and they established comfortable leads, in the first two races the lead being nearly the full length of the last leg from the Bridge mark. The third race saw Race1 given a penalty at the first mark (strongly disputed!!) and so they had to do a penalty turn that dropped them out of the first three for the only time. However, by the end of the second upwind they were back in front and crossed through the start/finish line ahead, holding this throughout the next lap in the only two-lap race, although it was much closer than the first two races with Team Gul/Purple pushing them hard all the way.

The last two races were rather different with several teams now pushing Race1 hard all the way. With three bullets Race1 were certain of winning if they did not completely foul up and so they relaxed their foot on the accelerator pedal a bit to finish third both times, while the main battle went on for second place between Team Dolphin Sails, Team Gul/Purple and Victor Boats. Team Dolphin Sails did best with a second and then a first to take second overall ahead of Team Gul/Purple.

Victor Boats dropped out of contention in a spectacular way when a strong gust got them out of control while setting their spinnaker, their backstay caught on a moored boat and their mast snapped in half. This led to numerous comical remarks afterwards and Berkeley Marine were to be commended on keeping their sense of humour when significant damage was caused.

On receiving the trophy for Race1 at the champagne reception and prize giving ceremony, Philip Crebbin thanked Berkeley Marine and the Royal Thames Yacht Club for a well organised, highly entertaining event and wished Berkeley Marine good fortune (and no more spectacular downfalls) with their venture in the Docklands with the First Class 8s.

Results:

1st Race1
2nd Team Dolphin Sails
3rd Team Gul / Purple
4th Victor Boats
5th Royal Navy
6th Sailing Holidays