16 June 2022
Ossie Stewart crewed by his son Tom Stewart and Geoff Carveth, sailing More T Vicar, won the Brewin Dolphin RS Elite International Grand Prix, incorporating the UK National Championship, hosted by the Royal Yacht Squadron from Thursday 9 to Sunday 12 June. After a cliff-hanger tenth and final race on the Sunday morning, Stewart and his crew beat Russell Peters, crewed by Greg Wells and James Grant, sailing Riff Raff, by just one point to collect the trophy, with Peters finishing second.
In third place were last year’s champions Tom Hewitson, crewed by Colin Smith and Jo Hewitson, sailing Shaken not Stirred, fourth place went to Martin Jones and crew in Candida, in fifth place were Simon Brien and crew in Kin and in sixth, Paul Fisk and crew in Legs Eleven.
Competition was fierce with 23 boats out of the entry of 40 being black flagged at least once. The series undecided until the last race. Despite having won five of the ten races, Peters was black flagged on two races, effectively using up all his possible discards. Stewart finished the last race with one discard in hand and was able to discard his last race result of 18th to give him an overall points total of 33 as compared to Peters’ 34 thus winning the title by one point.
Racing was held in the central Solent over windward-leeward courses in the general area of Hill Head. Winds were generally south westerly 15-20 knots with tidal conditions causing choppy seas at times. Conditions were rather lighter on the last day.
For event organiser Charlie Egerton-Warburton, this was to be the last of the many regattas he would organise for the fleet although many competitors felt that they would like to come back to the RYS in the future. This time he pulled out all the stops to make the event a success. The size of the entry was spectacularly good in a world recovering from the Covid disruptions. Race management provided by the RYS teams led by Jonathan Peel and Charles Hall-Thomson was impeccable and the parties were the best ever. The event charity The Andrew Cassell Foundation raised £3,644.83 during the regatta, from the charity ‘Race to the Start’ on Friday and raffle ticket sales at the event dinner on Saturday.
Originally intended to have been held in 2020. The event was postponed to 2022 because of the Covid disruptions. The international entry included crews from the United States, Norway and Antigua. Some other potential international competitors were unable to make the rescheduled date.