Zhik Pyefleet Week at Brightlingsea Sailing Club - Preview
by Fiona Brown 23 Jul 2015 08:01 BST
1-8 August 2015
Pyefleet Week day 6 © Fiona Brown /
www.fionabrown.com
Brightlingsea Sailing Club's Pyefleet Week 2105 supported by Zhik, which takes place from Saturday 1 to Saturday 8 August, is one of the UK's premier dinghy and day boat regattas and this year looks set to break all attendance records.
With eight days of sailing for all from Olympic medallists and World Champions to weekend warrior, cadets and complete novices plus non-stop fun for all the family, Pyefleet Week truly does have something to offer everyone.
The Colne Estuary provides sheltered sea sailing and there are committee boat starts for the main racing classes and club line starts in the protection of Brightlingsea Creek for cadets and intermediate/novice sailors. This year the regatta will include the SigneT Class National Championship, which will run from Monday 3 to Friday 7 August.
Also featuring will be a fleet of more than 20 Brightlingsea One Designs (BODs), the local three man traditional clinker day boats that have been raced continuously at Brightlingsea since their introduction in 1928. The Wivenhoe One Designs, a smaller two-man clinker day boat normally based up the river at Wivenhoe, will join the fray too making for a spectacular sight as boats almost a century old race side by side with the very latest skiffs, multihulls and foilers.
Ashore the Club is open from early morning to late at night. Each day starts with breakfast, followed by morning coffee, the famous Pyefleet lunch table, afternoon tea and après sailing drinks. In the evenings there's a Club supper, followed by a variety of entertainment including live bands, a quiz night and various fleet-led fun nights such as the infamous BOD German Night and the legendary Big Wednesday Beach Party.
There's plenty to keep non sailors of all ages entertained with a sandy beach right outside the Club, walks along the River Colne and Brightlingsea Creek, playgrounds, a seawater paddling pool, Brightlingsea's open air swimming pool (one of the few remaining outdoor lidos still in operation), boat trips around the harbour and up river, a town centre with lots of lovely local shops and the ever-popular crabbing from Brightlingsea Hard.
Pyefleet Week supported by Zhik is organised and run by the volunteer members of Brightlingsea Sailing club and the club operates an open door policy throughout the week, welcoming visiting sailors, their friends and family to this very special and beautiful corner of Essex.
The generous support of sponsors helps make the event the success it is and for 2015 Pyefleet Week is delighted to welcome Australia based apparel brand Zhik as Official Clothing Partner and title sponsor. Also supporting the week are Day Sponsors Brightlingsea Boat Park & Ride, Specialised Fixings, AOC Resins, Just Trays and Britau Scaffolding; Supporting Sponsors Chemical Release Company, Professional Building Supplies, Aluminium Roofline Products and Walker Modular; and Official Suppliers Clean Fresh, Curtis Signs, Dave White and The Press Gang.
www.pyefleetweek.com
About Brightlingsea Sailing Club
Brightlingsea Sailing Club is a busy, friendly East Coast club with a great history, and unrivalled reputation for running top events and a simply fantastic stretch of water to sail on.
Our home water is the Colne/Blackwater estuary, an area that provides us with sheltered sea sailing at all states of the tides - not to mention some of the most unspoilt coastline in the South.
For racing the location is unbeatable, for pottering, its creeks and rivers offer a lifetime of hideaways to explore and wildlife to discover.
The club boasts excellent facilities - including a wide launching ramp, adjacent dinghy park, large bar and galley and spacious changing rooms.
Our south-facing terrace borders the sandy beach which provides a safe place for the little ones to play whilst mum or dad are sailing.