Royal Northumberland Yacht Club Regatta
by Clive Griffith 13 Sep 2015 10:10 BST
5-6 September 2015
The weather on the Saturday was inclement with a cold strong Northerly wind with 3 metre swells but 11 boats braved the conditions to take part in the annual RNYC regatta at Blyth.
There was a strong Albin Express fleet of 6 boats who for the first time for many years at Blyth formed a separate fleet.
Three cruisers also took part Nick Spurr's Benteau 35 Spurreli,Colin Davidson's X 44 Summer Wine and Jondlalar,a Feeling 31.6 skippered by Steve Vogel
Two sports boats also took part,Nathan Batchelor's VX1 Zhik and Mike Smith's Melges 24 Filska in a series of match races between the two boats.
Race 1
Spurreli led the way for the cruisers in race one in windy condition and swell to cross the line first in the cruisers with Summer Wine in second place and Jondalar in third place close behind.
The Albins coped well with the conditions with Starlight Express taking the lead after some nip and tuck with Albany Express who came second and Expressly Forbidden third.
In the sportsboats, Zhik (VX1) came home first to Filska.
Race 2
With no let up in the weather conditions and sea state Spurreli went on the win line honours in the cruisers with a 4 minute lead over Summer Wine on corrected time.Jondalar came in third less than a minute behind Summer Wine on corrected time.
In the Albins Starlight came home in first place with Albany less than a minute behind for second place and Expressly Forbidden third 30 seconds later.
Another first for Zhik in the sportsboats.
Race 3
There were two races on the Sunday for all classes.The wind had lessened and the swell reduced and as a bonus the sun came out too.
For the cruisers,Summer Wine managed to get ahead of Spurreli to come first in race three.
In the Albins, Starlight secured another first with Albany second and Expresso third.
Zhik came first in the sportsboats.
Race 4
In the final race Spurreli got back on form to come first to Summer Wine by over three minutes on corrected time with Jondalar third.
Starlight gain led the Albins home but Albany came second less than a minute behind with Expressly Forbidden coming in third 20 seconds behind Albany.
The overall winner on the RNYC regatta 2015 was Starlight express with 4 firsts.
Thanks to Peter Stenner,race officer who used his boat Whispa as the committee boat with his assistants Pippa Wallis and Bill Etherington, and Chris Turnbull and Mary Murray for driving the club rib and Alan Smith for taking the photographs of the regatta. Commiserations to Vounaki who broke her spinnaker pole in the windy conditions.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Boat Name | Boat Type | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | Spurreli | Beneteau 35 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| 3 | Jondalar | Feeling 31.6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| Albins |
|---|
| 1 | Starlight Express | | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Albany Express | | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Expressly Forbidden | | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 13 |
| 4 | Expresso | | 4 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 17 |
| 5 | Fagin's Express | | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 20 |
| 6 | Vounaki | | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 22 |
| Sportsboats |
|---|
| 1 | Zhik | VX One | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2 | Filska | Melges 24 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 8 |