Beating Up The Bay at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club

Numerous Admiral’s Cup and other Keelboat World Championships have been held over the years in Christchurch Bay but in recent years there have been few major regattas using this excellent 4 mile diameter racetrack.

This regatta was designed to enable Solent Keelboat Sailors to experience the sort of tight windward / leeward racing, in the clear airs, even depths and tides which Christchurch Bay is famous for.

Twenty eight yachts entered split into three classes – with equal fleets of 9 J109’s and 9 Beneteau 31.7’s both choosing to launch one design racing for their respective classes. The balance of the entries were mainly Beneteau 40.7s and Prima 38s with a sprinkling of competitive local yachts combined into an IRC class.

Day 1 saw exciting racing in fresh North Westerly breezes. PRO Tony Blatchford set the windward mark to the West of North Head Buoy providing a fabulous spectacle for any residents or tourists enjoying the views over to the Needles from the mainland shore.

Beneteau 40.7 “Shockwave” rapidly dominated the IRC class with two firsts and a second. Still just in touch with 9 points though was Paul King’s Prima Offshore “Serendip”.

The J109’s were tightly grouped at the top with each of three leaders “Zelda”, “King Louie” and “Jalapeno” having taken a first.

Whilst David Jobson’s Beneteau 31.7 “Taipan” just clear of “Kurketrekker” the first two places seemed reasonably clear. However “Starspray” – with a DSQ after an incident with “Kurketrekker” in race 3 could well come back into the reckoning after discards.

On Sunday morning the fleet went out for their 1000 a.m. start to find glassy seas and not a breath of wind. Out came the suntan cream, bikini tops and in between race humour and patience was duly rewarded as the sea breeze duly filled in for a first start at 1130.

Shorter legs were set and the first two races were got in briskly in champagne sailing conditions. In order to get the fleet home the final race was finished off the Royal Lymington Club ODM and the first boats home to the Club pontoon almost managed to beat production of the race results.

As expected “Shockwave” maintained its dominance of the IRC class with “Serendip” staying at second place.

The J109s too retained their placing with “Zelda” first, “King Louie” second and “Jalapeno” third.

The major upset though was in the Beneteau 31.7 fleet where “Starspray” shrugged off a DSQ as a discard and took three consecutive firsts to beat “Taipan” by one point. “Kurketrekker” was pressing to the end with only one point difference with Taipan. So excitement to the final race. Within the newly formed class “Chied” won the Spirit of Adventure trophy.

Sun, good breezes and great sailing

For full results see our web site www.rlymyc.org.uk

Beating up the Bay 2005 will be on Saturday 4th and Sunday 5th June 2005