Optimist Easter Egg at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Optimist Easter Egg at Grafham © Zoe Felton

Optimist Easter Egg at Grafham © Zoe Felton

Optimist Easter Egg at Grafham © Zoe Felton

Following a good winter of training, a team of eight Midland Optimist sailors ventured to Grafham Water SC for the club's first-ever Easter Egg Regatta for the class.

With the first race not being until noon on Good Friday, it set the tone for a relaxed weekend, and as the boats rigged for light winds, it was a great start to the season for the younger sailors. Among them, Hollowell SC's Hazel McDonnell had a nice surprise, winning the first regatta fleet race.

In the main fleet, despite being one of the largest sailors, Staunton Harold SC's Chloe Felton proved as the wind dropped further, that it is about sailing the boat well and finding the wind, finishing the second race with a substantial lead. Her brother Jacob also had a good race, finishing 7th to sit in 11th overnight. Staunton's Kamran Ewbank meanwhile had a nice outing with his North Zone pals!

Boats were then sent to shore to see if the wind would fill in again. It picked up only slightly and it was also drizzly so race officer Peter Saxton made a welcome decision to leave racing for the day.

There were then fun and games for the children ashore, starting with piggy back and wheelbarrow races, and moving onto balloon wars. New friends were made by many, and fellow West Zone sailor Emily Haughton was adopted by the Midlands!

Day two brought some strong winds; too windy for one Midland regatta fleet sailor but Banbury's Kieran Bray did give the second race a go. His sister Aimee was glad for the last Midland Oppie training where she'd persevered in the strong wind even though she was scared. Tara Ewbank also managed two races even though she only learned to sail last year.

The wind dropped through the day with three regatta fleet races and four for the main fleet. Chloe Felton won the first race of the day with a large lead but the next race was much closer with Chloe rounding the leeward mark first but finishing 3rd. There was a battle going on in the middle of the fleet between the other three Midland sailors. Jacob proved that going left paid in the first race of the day finishing in 10th, with Draycote Water's Millie Irish getting a 9th in the final race. Kamran had a more competitive day, pulling in a 14th.

The Midland sailors did well - Kieran, Aimee, Tara and Hazel were all awarded spot prizes, and Chloe Felton - one of Leicestershire and Rutland's GoGold athletes receiving a grant from their Talented Athlete Fund - won the 29-strong main fleet counting 8 points despite getting a black flag in the final race!

Second overall in the main fleet was Dabchicks' Ryan Bailey on 11 points, with Burghfield's David Calder in third on 15 points.

The regatta fleet attracted 19 entries and was won by Jamie Gatehouse of WWSC with Grace Pank, Norfolk Broads YC, in second overall, both counting just 7 points. Third overall was Rutland's Carys Attwell with 11 points.

Richard Baker, Peter Saxton and the team from Grafham put on a really good event with the right balance between racing and social, and an equal importance between the two fleets. A great way to celebrate Easter!

Main fleet results:

Regatta fleet results: