May Regatta

The first of the seasons 2-day mini-Regattas was held last weekend. Fortunately, the event coincided with some glorious sailing conditions that could be the start of the summer. Under blue skies and a fresh breeze, the race on Saturday was advertised as the Long Distance Race; in reality the aim was a 3-4 hour race over a ‘longer’ distance than the normal round-the-cans racing. To this end, RO set a course East against wind and tide with Colne Bar as the windward mark. Ten boats gathered at the start line, however, a torn foresail resulted in an unlucky early retirement for ‘Golden Fleece’. The race itself was eventful, with conditions providing a genuine challenge around Colne Bar, prompting further retirements from ‘Rendezvous’ and ‘Naiad Of Arne’. For everyone else the downwind leg back into the river and the relative calm for the remainder of the race was a welcome relief. In the LH class, after approximately 4 hours sailing, less than 5 minutes separated the first 4 boats on corrected times, with the two Nordic Folkboats, Robin Dutton ‘Strider’ and John Munns ‘Pip’ finishing first and second respectively, the latter in his first sail in the boat! ‘Bananaman’ , ‘Starfall 2’ and ‘Marionette’ made up the places. In the WS fleet Dave Amass ‘French Mistress’ was the victor with Jack Davis ‘Clockwise’ runner-up.

Sunday was another great day for sailing and two traditional races; the Wallet Cup and Ancient Mariners Race provided different challenges. Short-handed sailing is aim of the Wallet Cup and as with the previous day the Folkboats were to the fore, with the Robin Dutton in ‘Strider’ again taking the honours with Scot Yates in ‘Flicka II’ runner-up. In the afternoon, the Ancient Mariners Race, in which a high average crew age gives a significant handicap advantage, saw a now fixed ‘Golden Fleece’ with a commendable average crew age of 79 years (young) line up against the youthfully crewed ‘Clockwise’ ‘Pip’ and ‘Strider’. Clearly, the tactical skills of the 93 year old Jim McNaughton on board ‘Golden Fleece’ paved the way for a well sailed race that resulted in Michael Wheeler winning with John Munns ‘Pip’ runner-up.

Many thanks to Alan Jones who ‘Gate Started’ the race on Saturday and to Brian and Wendy Bolton who provided their usual Committee Boat service on the Sunday.

In summary, the event was blessed with excellent sailing conditions and despite many of the participants having only recently launched their boats there was some competitive and enjoyable sailing. The next mini regatta is the 125th Anniversary event on 22/23 June, further details of which will be published shortly.

Bryan Gasson
Vice Commodore (Sailing)