North Sails May Regatta 2025 at Royal Southern Yacht Club
by Royal Southern Yacht Club 25 May 13:43 BST
16-18 May 2025
Last weekend (16-18 May) saw the first event in the Royal Southern's flagship Summer Series for 2025 - the North Sails May Regatta. 67 boats competed across six classes on three race areas.
Friday saw the start of racing for the Cape 31 class for Round 2 of their UK series. Despite some tricky conditions, Race Officer Peter Saxton and his team did a great job to deliver four races.
On Saturday, the Capes were joined by two other fleets - Black Group for 3 IRC classes, and White Group for the J/70 Southern Championships (GS2) and SB20s. After a delay in the morning to allow the wind to build from the south then south west, all classes saw racing in sunshine and champagne conditions.
In the evening competitors enjoyed live music from Golden Groove and some delicious Thai food that went down so well that it sold out!
Sunday was similarly challenging for the Race Committee with a light and unpredictable breeze that this time, settled from the east - all classes got racing once more thanks to the excellent work of the respective teams.
Overall it was a close battle at the top in each class. Adam Gosling's 'Yes!' won IRC 1 by a single point from 'McFly' (Anthony Mack) who was first J/111, and James Chalmers' 'Happy Daize'. In IRC 2, Kevin Taylor's J/99 'Jump 2 it' took victory from 'Jenie' (Rosie Berry) who was first in the brand-new Performance 30 sub-class. In IRC 3 it was a Quarter Tonner 'Runaway Bus' that took the win for David Richards, beating James Crew's Half Tonner 'Quokka'.
The J/70 Southern Championships had a healthy 20 boats competing. Alastair Hall's 'Calypso' sailed a strong regatta to finish first Corinthian and first overall. Graham Clapp's 'Jeepster' was second, with 'Jelvis' - Martin Dent - in third.
In the SB20 class, Paul Hine on 'PBII Twenty' had a strong Sunday to win by a single point from reigning National Champion Charles Whelan on 'Breaking Bod' who had similarly led through Saturday, tight racing!
Taking top honours in the Cape 31s was Royal Southern member Simon Perry and team on 'Jiraffe', who claimed their first-ever Cape 31 circuit win — a hugely popular result within the fleet. As a Club member, and one of the founding members of the Cape 31 class in the UK, Simon's long-anticipated victory was much celebrated! The regatta went right to the wire, with 'Akheilos' second and Guy Gillon's 'Khumbu' in third.
A huge thank you to all of the competitors who raced with us and made it such a great regatta. Thanks also to all of the volunteers who made this event a success - led by Race Officers Peter Bateson (Black Group & PRO), Peter Saxton (Red Group), and Ian Bullock (White Group).
We look forward to welcoming new and returning teams for the next event in our Summer Series - the Mid-Summer Regatta (20-22 June) - which this year for the first time ever will incorporate the Key Yachting J-Cup.