This year’s lively Regatta
The 2022 club Regatta was held over the weekend of 3rd and 4th September. It was a Regatta all about fun and friendship as much as competition. 17 competitors took part across the weekend with an even split of adults and juniors. Great to see representation across all of our membership.
Saturday saw us hold 4 races with moderate winds all day, good racing and a lot of good starts by all of the fleets. The handicap race starts with up to 14 on the line were particularly good to watch. We finished racing for the day and almost immediately the wind died completely. Couldn’t have timed that better!
Sunday was forecast to be more blustery and to start with it looked as though the forecast was exaggerated, but the wind did pick up and peaked at a force 4, not too gusty and with the southerly winds coming over the camping field side, for Upton Warren they were fairly straight. A more eventful morning ensued. Some capsizes and a broken mast. For some, foregoing that Sunday lie in must have seemed the wrong choice!
Lunchtime heralded time for our Junior race, with 6 toppers competing for the David Walker Memorial Trophy. The 30th year this has been awarded, I’m proud to have been the first recipient, having known David and being saddened to hear of his passing whilst he was travelling in the far east. The racing was very close and right up to the end it looked as if Jenny Scrimshaw was just going to be pipped and not retain the title she won last year, but a wind shift caught Oli out and while recovering from his brief dip Jenny nipped by. Well done to Jenny on winning the cup again. Already looking forward to watching the 2023 event to see who wins that one. As ever it’s great entertainment for our lunchtime, many thanks to our Juniors and to WYSA members for joining us. The cup was again presented by a member of the Walker family, lovely to welcome them again and for them to see the club David called his home club still going strong.
The final race of the weekend was delayed while we held the Junior Topper race presentation. This turned out to be a fortuitous delay as torrential rain came in as we were about to head onto the water. We waited for the rain to ease and to see if the wind would come back, as the rain had completely killed the wind. Once the rain had passed we got set to go out again….but not before a lot of bailing out all of that rain!
A great weekend of keen racing, displays of sportsmanship, and friendly competition. Congratulations to Andy Harding for coming 1st on his return to the club and his return to sailing after a number of years gap. Always good to welcome new members and to welcome back old members. Good to see Andy’s not lost it after the years away. We’ll make sure he gets plenty of Race Officer practise to refresh those skills ready for the fun of running the 2023 Regatta!
On behalf of all the competitors and myself I’d like to thank all the volunteers who made this Regatta happen and allowed it to go smoothly, those who helped on the safety boat, on the committee boat with me, and those on shore who tidied the trollies away keeping the beach clear.
Finally, thank you to all the competitors for taking part and making it a great event to watch and to run. Particular thanks to the juniors for joining in and showing your enthusiasm. Well represented in the results too, can see all the WYSA training and travelling to competitions is developing those skills.
I was looking forward to running the Regatta for the first time and very much enjoyed it. Challenging and taxing on the brain cells at times, but so rewarding seeing everyone enjoying their sailing.
Ian Chapman, Race Officer
