A total of 46 SB3s arrived at Lymington for the Volkswagen Touareg / Henri-Lloyd-sponsored Lymington Eurocup on 4-5 June 2005. Saturday dawned with dogs blowing off chains in the Western Solent. In a repeat of the 2004 event, Saturday’s destruction derby in strong winds began. In race one, newly christened and logo’d up Team Harken (Kennedy, Harrison, Cheyne) arrived second at the windward mark, only to see the leader flattened, kite in the water, right in their path.

Slick avoiding action and a quick hoist was rewarded with a huge lead whilst the rest of the fleet picked their way amongst the carnage. Only four boats really took up the challenge, flying kites successfully for the whole race. Blonde Ambition (Dan Geoghegan and team), Lasersailing (Chris Blackburn), Team Maclaren (Curly girlies) and Teenage Kicks (Mike Riley) managed to avoid crashing for long enough to finish in that order. Instigator of the new ‘Gentleman’s cruising class’ was Ullswater’s Dave Clarke. After a series of events ruined with crashes and gear failure, Dave’s team managed sixth by the prudent measure of keeping the kite in the bag! Remarkably 26 boats finished in various states of disarray. With gusts allegedly in the region of 35 knots, PRO Tony Blachford hoisted N over A, come back another day. The fleet repaired to the bars and sail repairers of Old Lymington Town.

Saturday evening’s festivities saw a smartly dressed Dave Cheyne (Harken ‘r’ us) present the prizes for the previous round, the Seaview Eurocup.

After a bright start, Sunday became increasingly grey and drizzly, to match the palor and demeanour of many of the sailors. With a short postponement for the tide to turn, racing got underway in a gusty Force 3-4. Sadly for the rest of the fleet, Glenn Bourke put Saturdays kite washing incidents behind him and won all 3 races, and the event. Team Harken, IRL3041 sailed well with 2,2,4, but could not match the speed of the Aussie. Second overall was their reward. In third overall, discarding an eighth in race three was Aussie Dan Geoghegan and his team aboard Blonde Ambition. The four girls in Team Maclaren proved that their performance in a breeze is no ‘fly-by-night’ phenomenon. Discarding a sixth, they were fourth overall. Surprising the fleet in fifth overall, Dave Clarke’s 3 Steps Beyond finally gave their kite an airing to become New Kids On The Block.

Saturdays third position in race one helped maintain Lasersailing, Chris Blackburn in sixth overall, until Jerry Hill was lobbed from race three, shifting Simon Relph’s Mailspeedmarine into sixth place on a split tie.

Overall Results

1. MUSTO – Glenn Bourke- AUS 3082

2. HARKEN – Peter Kennedy / DrC – IRL 3041

3. Blonde Ambition – Dan Geoghegan – AUS 3080

4. Team Maclaren – Mini/CC Summerhayes, Bird and Jenny H – GBR 3031

5. 3 Steps Beyond – David Clarke – GBR 3138

6. Mailspeedmarine.com – Simon Relph – GBR 3132