Magic Marine RS Tera End of Seasons at Draycote Water Sailing Club

Draycote Water Sailing Club welcomed the return of the RS Tera Fleet for the Magic Marine End of Seasons Regatta last weekend. Unfortunately conditions were difficult with an unpromising forecast of little to no wind. Day one saw 54 eager sailors in the main fleet and 10 in the Regatta fleet arrive from all over the country hoping the forecasters were wrong. At least the visibility was good enough!

After a briefing from the Race committee the postponement flag went up. While the main fleet sailors settled in to onshore socialising the regatta fleet benefited from some classroom coaching, led by Matthew Caiger. Hopes rose and fell as there were occasional puffs of air and eventually the launch flag went up for the Regatta fleet for paddle racing, followed eventually by the main fleet. The paddle race soon over, racing began in earnest for the Regatta fleet, and the race committee managed to get the first race in the main fleet underway.

Ultra light, patchy and shifty conditions made for interesting racing with some falling foul of dead sopts on the water. In the Sports Fleet Jake Thompson from Frensham Pond won convincingly from Felix Stewart (Windermere School) and Ben Tuttle coming in third (HISC). In the Pro Fleet World Champion Jack Lewis (Draycote Water SC) stole the show with Ralph Nevile of Frensham taking second and Tim Hire (RLYC) in third.

The PRO attempted to start another race but the wind was non existent by this time and stopped the start sequence, abandoning for the day.

The Regatta fleet managed to get 3 races in on their triangular course; Finlay Lomas Clarke(Frensham Pond) in first followed by Millie Hardiman(Bartley Green) and Freddie McLaverty (Llandudno) in race one, Race 2 and 3 saw Millie fighting back to take the win in each, followed by Matthew Rayner (Ripon) and Brett Tudor (Brightlingsea).

An early supper of fish and chips followed by a super quiz run by Richard and Inge Pye testing the knowledge of many parents, and ultimately won by the team Passing Wind.

Day 2 and the forecast had dropped even further. Some had felt there was no point in returning, whilst still others started to pack away the boats. A short briefing by the race team was followed by the postponement flag being raised once more, with the promise that there would be no further racing if the fleet were not launched by 1300. Some of the sailors chose to enjoy the park adjacent to the sailing area, with team games and friendships reinforced. The regatta fleet once more enjoyed fine tuition and eventually went on the water to try and get more racing in. There began to be murmurings as a whisper of a breeze appeared, and at 1230 the decision was made to launch the fleet, leading to parents rapidly re rigging boats whilst sailors got hurriedly changed.

In the Sport Fleet once more Jake took a commanding lead with Tom Ahlheid (Frensham) in second and Felix Stewart in third. The Pros saw a reversal of fortunes with Ralph taking first from Jack and Tim once more in third. With time for one more race before the cut off the race team began the sequence, only to have the wind die once more and racing was abandoned once more.

The Regatta fleet managed two races, Matthew winning both; from Millie and Brett in the first and Alex Barry (Bartley) and Freddie McLaverty in the second.

With results in the Pro fleet tied it was all down to countback and then on the last highest scoring race! Fantastic to see such close scoring.

With a great spread of prizes up to 5th place in both main fleets from our sponsors Magic Marine, Prize giving took place and it was time to head for home. Thanks to Magic Marine for supporting our class and to Draycote Water SC for putting on a great event. We look forward to returning there next year (albeit preferably with more wind!).

Overall Results:

Regatta Fleet Results: