Home » News » MIR: great meal, great networking, great sailing

MIR: great meal, great networking, great sailing

26 Apr 2010

Adrian Miles – third from right – and his victorious Bruntons Propellers team

The 7th Marine Industry Regatta (MIR) was run on April 21, with 11 boats competing on a beautiful sunny Solent day with a gentle and fitful breeze that tantalised the fleet for three races.

REGATTA: The latest: Marine Industry Regatta – the 7th – saw 11 boats come to the line with only a few sore heads from the previous night’s excellent meal and networking in the Portsmouth Harbour Yacht Club (PHYC) in Port Solent, writes Peter Nash.

The evening started with the presentation of the John Merricks Sailing Trust cheque for £1,200. However, as the cheque had been written before knowing one boat had its crew ash-bound in Europe, the assembled sailors were asked to make small donations to keep the figure on the cheque.

As it turned out, a total of £146.72 was raised, so the JMST will receive a cheque for £1,246.72. This regatta has now given over £16,000 to the charity.

Leaving Port Solent at 08.30 on the Tuesday morning, Portsmouth Harbour Yacht Club race officer Simon Grover made it plain boats should keep to the marked channels on their way down the harbour.

However… One boat decided to take what seemed a fairly natural short cut down the moorings. Our picture below shows the Halyard/ADPR boat being towed off the putty unceremoniously.

The PHYC race officer set two good short courses before lunch, giving the fleet some exasperating sailing around the holes in the breeze, with some boats benefiting and others, er; not benefiting…

Made the running
But it was Adrian Miles of Bruntons Propellers who made the running and took the win in the first race. And he did exactly the same in the second race, which required a general recall and a 1-minute rule to keep the fleet in order.

Over the lunch break, the already fitful breeze boxed the compass before grudgingly settling down as (mostly) a north easterly. So one more race start was set. And the fleet was very sorry to hear Adrian Miles called OCS at the start. Nobody likes to the see the winner of the two previous races over the line, do they?

But it made little difference to the Bruntons crew and they were near the front at the first mark. There was, however, a different leader out there in the shape of the Cooney Marine boat.

Cooney’s Andy Sims readily admits he and his crew are there to enjoy the regatta each year. But their Sunsail skipper this year - Ash Harris - managed to advise and guide them around the courses so well they actually won the final race by quite a considerable amount, leaving the Bruntons boat to lead the rest of the fleet home.

And they also won the trophy Cooney sponsored, which was the First Timers Trophy, given to the highest placed boat with two first time sailors on board. As Cooney - with two first time sailors on board - finished fourth overall, they took their own trophy home as well.

Sorry fellas...
Two boats tied for third and second places on 11pts. Initially, the order shown on the results was thought to be wrong, so the prizes were awarded with the Barton/Navimo boat credited with 2nd and the Boating Business boat 3rd. But a chat with the race officer, who referred us to the Racing Rules, confirmed the printed result of the Boating Business boat 2nd and the Barton/Navimo boat 3rd.

And with 1, 1, 2 positions for a total seven clear of the field, Adrian Miles and Bruntons Propellers won the Marine Industry Regatta for the second time. Our congratulations on a regatta well sailed in flukey conditions.

Details of the 2011 Marine Industry Regatta will be released in due course.

Results
Adrian Miles/Bruntons Propellers 1, 1, 2 - 4pts 1st
Richard Franks/Boating Business 2, 5, 4 - 11pts 2nd
David Barrow/Barton/Navimo 4, 4, 3 - 11pts 3rd
Ash Harris/Cooney Marine 5, 9, 1 - 15pts 4th
Carol Grazebrook/Halyard/ADPR 11, 2, 5 - 18pts 5th
Sam Taylor-Nobbs/ICOM (UK) 8, 3, 7 - 18pts 6th
Tom Stevens/IPC Media 3, 7, 10 - 20pts 7th
Nick Crawford/International Paint 9, 6, 6 - 21pts 8th
Daniel Taylor/BMF 6, 8, 8 - 22pts 9th
Chris Satchwell/Sunsail 7, 10, 9 - 26pts 10th
Andriu McCormac/Seldén Masts 10, 11, 11- 32pts 11th