Fancy Dress Hut 18-30 Regatta at Royal Harwich Yacht Club
by Rebecca McCarthy 21 Oct 2014 15:52 BST
8-11 September 2014
Monday
In what appears to be turning into 18-30 week tradition, Monday 8th September dawned completely windless. With the forecast for the week showing a similar lack of breeze, the two radial Lasers simultaneously made the decision to switch to full rigs for the week and discussion was heard about whether the SIs could be changed to incorporate "paddle races".
Nonetheless, under the instruction of our capable race officer, Dr Chris Brown, the fleets set out onto the river hoping to catch whatever little breeze there may be.
Of the Lasers, Guy Pelling won the first, second and third races of the day, with Ben Burley of Covenham Sailing Club coming in second in the first two and George Finch second in the third race. Sophie Louth came in third in the first race, with George stealing third in the second and Sophie taking it back for the final race of the day.
In the Handicap fleet Tom Louth and Robbie Campbell in the Wayfarer impressively managed third and fourth places over the water in the first two races, finishing first in their class on all three races that day and with handicaps included, first overall in the first race.
The evening consisted of bar games, which due to the lovely weather, quickly diverged into games of croquet and boule on the lawn, accompanied by a few refreshing pints before the party was transferred to what a number of the marina affectionately refer to as the "party yacht" for a "few" more drinks and a card game or two.
Tuesday
Competitors awoke on the Tuesday to much the same weather and yet again prepared themselves for a very tense drifting race, not quite believing Chris' predictions of a breeze heading in for the afternoon. Much to their delight Chris turned out to be right and not three but four races were squeezed in.
With Guy taking first place for all four, Sophie, Ben, George and George in second places and George, George, Sophie and Duncan McGoldrick in third places.
With the 420 finding itself unable to compete all day, the Wayfarer won in its class yet again in the first race, retiring for the second and third for a well deserved rest.
The evening's entertainment consisted of a fantastic quiz organised by Hester Pelling alongside an equally fantastic curry, courtesy of the kitchen. Guy, Will Finch and Caroline Louth won the quiz and a bottle of wine and again, the evening continued into the small hours of the morning, with the aforementioned party boat finding herself rather close to the waterline for a second time.
Wednesday
Wednesday morning continued the theme of not a lot of wind; however, it once again picked up towards the afternoon. 3 regular races were completed, with Ben Burley, Guy and Guy again taking the first places, Guy, George and Sophie taking second and Sophie, Ben and George taking third.
The Wayfarer won its class again, even making first and fourth place over the water in the second and third races respectively.
A pursuit race was planned that afternoon, with personal handicaps and a Le Mans start seeing the 420 start the race from the slipway, followed 30 seconds later by Becky McCarthy in a Laser, embarrassingly followed 1 minute 30 seconds later by the Wayfarer and remaining Lasers, with the leader of the results, Guy Pelling, starting last with an additional handicap of his Laser being unlaunched!
What followed was surely one of the more tense and amusing races, with phrases such as "where am I going" being thrown around and a slight detour being taken resulting in an almost neck and neck finish with Becky in first place and Sophie a remarkably close (considering the handicap) second.
Following this race, competitors headed back to shore where wetsuits were swapped for dinner jackets, spray tops for evening dresses and boots for heels. Competitors and guests then assembled in the club house for a fabulous black tie dinner in the Ashbury Room. Everyone looked absolutely amazing and Sarah-Jane and Chris had their work cut out for them judging the "best dressed" for the evening. Sarah-Jane inspected the boys with a fine tooth comb, commenting on the polish of the shoes, the pre-tied bow ties, the matching cufflinks and studs and the colour of socks. Kudos was given to Tom Dixon for his beautifully tied Windsor knot and Tom Louth for his flare with bright red braces, however the competition was finally narrowed and a battle between Jack Beckett and Duncan McGoldrick ensued. After much umming and ahhhing, Duncan managed to scrape first place for the second time, with Jack coming in second for the third time in three years!
Chris took a more subtle approach to judging and again had a struggle, commenting on Robbie Campbell's extremely pretty red and white dress and Hester's timelessly stylish black number, however although "she'll never be able to tango backwards" in her floor length blue gown, Becky McCarthy was awarded first prize. Yet more drinks were ordered and after a group photo, the party wandered out onto the lawn where a rather large game of "cards against humanity" unfolded, eventually heading down to the party boat for further card games and a "few" more drinks.
Thursday
Thursday thankfully for all those involved, started a little later, giving those feeling slightly under the weather a chance to recover. Unfortunately illness hit the group, causing Guy Pelling to be unable to compete in the day's racing, causing a much closer race for first places. George, George and Ben won the first places, Ben, Duncan and George won the seconds and Sophie, Ben, Sophie took thirds.
Boats were then packed away and the competitors assembled for prize giving. Our sponsor, the Fancy Dress Hut's owner, Susie Patten, came down to present prizes and kindly donated t-shirts for everyone to commemorate the week.
The handicap fleet was won by Tom Louth and Robbie Campbell in a Wayfarer with Jack Beckett and James Gooding taking second place.
The Laser fleet was inevitably won by Guy Pelling despite his non-attendance that day, with George Finch coming in second and Ben Burley coming in third.
The "Stationary Boat Prize", of a pack of stationary kindly donated by Ceva Logisitcs, was awarded to Jack and James in the 420 and the swimmer of the group was determined to be Duncan, (although it was close) and he was awarded with a platter of tuna for all his time spent with the fishes!
Overall competitors seemed to have a wonderful week and plans are already in place for next years event.
The organisers would like to send a massive thanks to Dr Chris Brown for his fantastic contribution as race officer, his crew Julia and Jeremy Brown, Caroline Louth and Tom Dixon for their dedicated support boating the entire week, the kitchen and bar staff for keeping us fed and watered, the RHYC for hosting the event and lastly but by no means least, Susie Patten for her kind sponsorship and Sarah-Jane Cook for all of her help as beach master and in her massive contribution, helping with the organisation of the event. We could not have done it without you and all of your volunteered time has been greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to next year already!