On Saturday 2nd July – the clubhouse filled long before the allotted 13:00 (cruiser) and 13:30 (dinghy) start times for the highly anticipated Annual Regatta. The wind was a Westerly Force 5 – with large gusts throughout the afternoon
A total of 33 boats – cruisers and dinghies signed in to sail.
The Race Officer set a 6 lap Olympic course for the first race.
The reaches were exhilarating, the beats exhausting – mixed with capsizes and technical issues!
One Mirror capsized on the gybe mark and the juniors did not have the strength left to right it. Their father left his already capsized Enterprise in the charge of his crew, righted the mirror and sailed into the harbour single handed. His Enterprise was righted by one of the Rescue boat crew who sailed it back to the harbour.
Another Enterprise sailor had an unfortunate bang on the head with his boom and was taken to hospital for 4 stitches. A sailor that had retired – jumped onto the safety rib – righted the abandoned Enterprise – sailed and won the second race with the injured sailor’s crew!
The second race was an upwind/downwind course – 4 laps
Many of the sailors were exhausted by this stage due to the conditions and capsizes!
Of the two remaining Mirrors one chose to and one had to retire and be towed in as they had lost their self-bailer leaving a hole in the bottom of the boat!
The overall Dinghy winners:
Handicap Fleet – Stuart Backhouse – Contender
Enterprise Fleet – Tom Kliskey/ Rebecca Knee
Laser Fleet – Kian Andrews
Mirror Fleet – Sebi Schmidt/Aoife Mooney.
Two races were scheduled for the cruisers. 7 boats lined up for a mass start. Laidback was too keen across the line and had to circle around again as Grendel and Bewitched made good starts. The fleet was still tight as they rounded Gear and out to Central. The beat into Newlyn opened up some gaps – weight on the rail playing an increasing role. Laidback caught and pulled away from Bewitched and Grendel. On the kite run, Solo also pulled back some distance, with Orion and Blue Chip staying seconds apart to the finish. It wasn’t a day for Free Spirit to be light on crew but they sailed an excellent course.
The wind picked up for the second race – gusts of 32kts recorded. It got too much for some, with Free Spirit sitting it out and Orion and Solo retiring after showing their keels off to the rest of the fleet on the beat to Lowlee! The positions were set early but, with a longer course set, it was a test of the helm’s strength and stamina.
Results: 1. Laidback 2. Bewitched 3. Blue Chip 4. Solo 5. Grendel 6. Orion 7. Free Spirit
Following the sailing there was food, a Prize Giving Ceremony and entertainment with live music from Schoolboy Error. Many thanks to all the visiting sailors and also the helpers who gave up their time to make it such a fabulously memorable day!
https://youtu.be/tdHpZQffBvs
