Largs Regatta Festival - Cumbraes Regatta
by Carolyn Elder 28 Aug 2023 13:49 BST
26-27 August 2023
Largs Regatta Festival Prizewinners © Marc Turner
The annual Cumbraes Regatta, which forms the opening weekend of the Largs Regatta Festival, attracted a record 67 dinghies and 50 keelboats over the bank holiday weekend.
Blessed with sunshine and light NW winds the sight of these boats creates a spectacle in the Largs Channel. The event is generously sponsored by Largs Yacht Haven based sailmakers, Saturn Sails supported by Fairlie based coastal contractors, Coastworks.
Saturday is all about short sharp races testing the skills of the sailors whereas Sunday is the famous Round Cumbrae Race, providing more race planning to get round the two Cumbrae islands. The fleets were split into two, the dinghies managing to race 2 races on Saturday when the wind eventually filled in later in the afternoon. Winner of the D Zero class was Jon Bassett, who ultimately took the Dinghy of the Weekend prize. The fast handicap class was won by Robbie Burns and Vicki Simpson in their RS200 narrowly beating the sponsor, Greg Pitt in his VX1 by 1 point. In the slow handicap class John and Jack Telford swept the board with a convincing win overall in their GP14 and also claiming the Scottish GP championship at the same time. Previous winners in the multihull class, brothers David and Ian Kent, kept up their form to convincingly take the multihull prize as well as the Scottish Cat Championship.
On the keelboat course 3 windward/leeward races were completed on the Saturday, with 7 one design Etchells entered from Royal Gourock YC adding to the fleet. Class 5 (restricted) and Class 6 (multihull) set off on a course to Bute then the Skelmorlie shore but unfortunately no finishers within the time limit. The NW wind on Sunday allowed for a figure of eight course around both Cumbraes, a course which has not been sailed for many years due to the wind direction. The dinghies also sailed around Great Cumbrae, a first for many and an adventure for some of the younger sailors. IRC class 1 was convincingly won overall by long standing sailor, Jonathan Anderson, in El Gran Senor, who was also awarded the coveted Yacht of the Weekend trophy.
As part of the Largs Regatta Festival a new element of boating was introduced. For non racers the official charity partner of the Festival, the Ellen Macarthur Cancer Trust, led 17 boats on a cruise in company around the Cumbrae Islands.
The Festival continues with mid week racing and ending in the unique Scottish Two Handed Race around Holy Island or Arran, sponsored by Isle of Arran distillers.
Thanks to event sponsors Saturn Sails and Coastworks and to the army of volunteers who work behind the scenes to provide excellent racing and a lively social programme ashore.
Full report and results on largsregattafestival.com
Overall Results:
Keelboats
Overall winner: El Gran Senor (Anderson/Findlay)
Class winners
ETCHELLS Diablo (S Cowie)
RC35 Blue Jay (John Stanley-White)
IRC 1 El Gran Senor (J Anderson/M Findlay)
CYCA 3 Stealthy (A Peden)
CYCA 4 Arcade (K Aitken)
CYCA 5 Wavelength (Carolyn Elder)
Multihull Excalibur (B Young)
Dinghies
Overall winner D Zero (J Bassett)
Class winners
D ZERO J Bassett
Fast Handicap RS200 R Burns and V Simpson
Slow handicap GP14 John and Jack Telford
Multihulls Hurricane David and Ian Kent