Sail East at the Port of Felixstowe Regatta

Sail East’s season kicked off at the Port of Felixstowe Regatta on 26th and 27th May, when a number of new yachts amongst the 42 boat entry gave the season’s opener something of a fresh look.

Saturday afternoon’s race was sailed round a triangular course in a stiff Force 4 wind, with the forecast rain and increased wind duly arriving for Sunday’s two races. The first of these, set round a windward/leeward course, and a somewhat depleted and damp fleet then contested the final race. The weekend’s dominant performance came from Nigel Theadom’s X332 Crikey V!, which took three first places in both Class Two and the Overall fleet.

Next in Class Two were Bill Rees X332 Hysterix, with 3-3-2 placings, and Tim Cross’ Projection 762 Upstart, which enjoyed Sunday’s conditions, achieving 2nd and 4th places. Fourth in class was a boat at the opposite end of the displacement spectrum - Alan Major’s Swan 41 Moustique.

Class Three also saw one boat dominate, with the Dehler 34 Big Zipper of Clinton Lyon achieving a clean sweep of Class Three wins. Her 3-2-4 overall scores also placed her second in the full fleet. Second and third respectively in Class Three were Geoff Sinton’s Contessa 33 Quickstep and Tony and Chuffy Merewether’s Sunfast 32 Amazon, both boats achieving all top three finishes. A second Sunfast 32, Peter Starling’s Saponetta, sailed consistently to finish fourth in class.

Class Four, which saw depleted numbers racing in Sunday’s tough conditions, was bossed by Robert Leggett, his Impala Monkey Business winning all three races from Mike and Barbara Harrison’s sistership Jiminy Cricket. Monkey Business’ placings of 4-4-5 placed her third for in the full fleet. Next up in Class Four were the MGC27 Skybird (Julian Lord/Vic Prior) and Russell Smith’s quarter tonner Zipper.

With three of 2006’s top four boats absent, Class One had a new look about it, and Geoff Payne’s J105 Jolene’s consistent placings of 2-3-1 were enough to take top slot, ahead of The Geek (Ian Langston/Dave Kemp). The IMX40 Cracker of Steve Heppell took third, boosted by a race win, with the other race winner, the top rated Ker 11.3 of Ian McGee/Michael & Paul Wood placing fourth.

Overall Results:

Class One
1st Jolene (G.Payne) DSC
2nd The Geek (D.Kemp/I.Langston) CYC
3rd Cracker (S.Heppell) Colne YC

Class Two
1st Crikey V! (N.Theadom) HPYC
2nd Hysterix (W.Rees) HPYC
3rd Upstart (T.Cross) HPYC

Class Three
1st Big Zipper (C.Lyon) MYC
2nd Quickstep (G.Sinton) WSC
3rd Amazon (T&C Merewether) CYC

Class Four
1st Monkey Business (R.Leggett) HPYC
2nd Jiminy Cricket (M&B Harrison) CYC
3rd Skybird (J.Lord/V.Prior) DSC

Overall
1st Crikey V! 3pts
2nd Big Zipper
3rd Monkey Business
4th Hysterix
5th Jiminy Cricket
6th Quickstep