River Exe Regatta at Starcross Yacht Club

by Mike Rice 17 Jul 2011 21:23 BST 9-10 July 2011

River Exe Regatta 2010 – Press Report by Mike Rice Exe SC

The eleventh edition of the River Exe Regatta was held over the weekend of 9th and 10th July, hosted by Starcross Yacht Club. Over 100 boats enjoyed some close racing in fine weather on both days of the regatta.

The dinghy 'A' course was set in the River Exe off Starcross YC in a patchy and oscillating Westerly wind but nevertheless three good races were run for the 59 competitors spread over four fleets, which included Hornets and Merlin Rockets, fast handicap, medium handicap and multihulls.

Winners of the Merlin Rocket class were Nick and Carly Turner with Richard Garry and James Beer wining the Hornet class. Winners of the fast and medium handicap were in order, Richard Cain and Lewis Turner sailing their RS400 and Jayne Johnson and Nicky McIlroy in their RS200.

The dinghy ‘B’ course was set on the Lympstone side of the estuary and featured racing for the Laser, slow handicap and junior fleets. The Laser fleet was well supported this year, with 19 entries. Winner by a single point was Alex Horlock of Exe SC, ahead of visitor Edward Jones from Chew Valley Lake SC, near Bristol. Malcolm Lynn of Exe SC was third.

Ten young sailors contended for honours in the junior fleet. The first three places were taken by Toppers: Jacob Hutchings finished two points in front of Emma Phillips who was ahead of Gregory Bartlett by the same margin.

The slow handicap fleet was dominated by Comet Trios from Exe SC, with Andrew and Caroline McAusland taking the win by just two points from Guy Farrant and Marilynn Booker. Symon Garratt and Nicky Groucutt were in third place. The highest placed non-Trio was the Devon Yawl of Shane Buckley, from Topsham SC.

Cruiser racing took place out to sea off the Exe Estuary. The Division 1 fleet results were dominated by the J/80s of Frank Rowsell and Steve Best, both of Exe SC. Three firsts and a fifth was enough to give Rowsell first place, three points ahead of Best. Rick Newcombe took third place in his latest acquisition, a First 31.7.

The Division 2 fleet was led home by Simon Jones of Topsham SC in his Hunter Horizon 26. TSC boats took the next four places: Dick Holifield (Eygthene 24) second, James Fellows (Hunter Horizon 26) third, Duncan MaFadyen (Moody 27) fourth and David Wilmington (Etap 21i) fifth.

A group of younger sailors enjoyed a “Swallows and Amazons” adventure on Saturday, cruising from Starcross YC up to Turf Locks and across the river to the Lympstone foreshore.

The offshore fishing competition, organised by the Exmouth Deep Sea Fishing Club and Starcross Fishing and Cruising Club, is now a regular fixture in the regatta. Some 60 anglers took part in this year’s competition. Weather conditions were not ideal, with a moderate South Westerly wind in the morning but competitors with smaller boats managed to find calmer inshore waters whilst others headed out to deeper water and the wrecks. Wind conditions gradually eased during the day and allowed more competitors to start a little later on. The weigh-in brought a good variety of species to the scales with Bert Thomas picking up the first prize of £250 with a super Ballan Wrasse of 6lb 8ozs (130.94%).

Chairman of Exmouth Deep Sea Fishing Club said "It is great for two local fishing clubs to be a part of the River Exe Regatta and this open boat competition is growing in popularity each year. There were 11 prizes awarded and both clubs would like to thank our sponsors for their generosity and support - Exmouth Tackle, Charter Skippers Mike Baker (Rose Ann) and Richard Jacobs (Trinitas), Peter Dixon Chandlery, Ash Marine, Harbour News and Exeter Angling.

On Saturday night, sailors and regatta helpers enjoyed a party at Starcross YC, with the galley producing an excellent supper and dancing to Exmouth-based party band “Jinx”.

Sunday dawned with little wind but luckily by the time the racing started, the wind had filled in and was increasing from the South, which allowed the race team to run as programmed, a long distance race for the multihulls and a 150 minute pursuit race for the monohulls, with a total of 55 boats taking part and racing across both fleets. The early starters enjoyed a good breeze to the first mark but frustratingly the wind faded through the race, although both races were completed.

The pursuit race was keenly fought, with early leader Gregory Bartlett form Starcross YC, sailing extremely well in his Topper and leading for almost a complete round, although in the end, the race was won by Andrew and Caroline McAusland from Exe SC sailing their Comet Trio.

The long-distance multihull race lasted 2 1/2 hours, with the course involving heading out to sea from Powderham Point by following the channel marks and then going directly upwind for several miles before a mark was dropped by a safety boat, to round and then return by again following the channel buoys up the estuary to Powderham. The sail out to sea was a tedious beat into an unpleasant chop but once the top mark had been turned and spinnakers set, it became much more pleasant with the possibility of surfing down waves to create more speed.

The return leg turned into a “hare and tortoise” style race, with the initial leaders being overhauled by the back markers, making skilful use of the tide and what little breeze was available. There was much swapping of places; some boats opted to go for speed but were forced sideways by the outgoing tide whereas others sacrificed speed to go deep downwind, straight into the tide. Amazingly, it was a 'tortoise' that came out ahead and crossed the line first, much to the intense frustration of the 'hares' who had had such an enormous lead but finished 3rd and 4th.

After 2 1/2 hours and many miles of racing, all four boats finished within 30 seconds of each other. The closing event of the regatta was the traditional tea-party, prize giving and prize draw, with excellent prizes generously provided by All Gadgets Marine and Peter Dixon Chandlery of Exmouth and Ash Marine of Topsham. The assembled competitors consumed a vast amount of cakes and other goodies provided by the Starcross YC galley crew. John Allen, commodore of Starcross YC thanked all the people who had helped to run the regatta for another excellent event, and offered particular thanks to the event sponsors, Bartlett Refrigeration and Penny’s Estate Agents.

Full results and pictures can be seen via the regatta website at www.river-exe-regatta.org.uk

Next year it is the turn of Lympstone SC to host the regatta.