East Coast Sailing Week at Royal Northumberland Yacht Club

East Coast Sailing Week © Jez Watson

East Coast Sailing Week © Jez Watson

Yachts travelled to Royal Northumberland Yacht Club for this years East Coast Sailing Week. The four day regatta took place over the 26th – 29th June and enjoyed stunning conditions with sunshine and 20-25K westerly breezes for the whole event. 37 Yachts competed from Northumberland, Forth and Tay areas.

Day 1 held bay races for sportboats and fast handicap yachts, whilst the medium handicap and white sail classes left for their inshore race. Lifting safety (SB3, SYC) and Mr Crusty (Soling, B&FYC) finished strongly on the 1st day, swooping 1st and 2nd places in the first two races. Likewise with the fast yachts Ruby (First 36, PEYC) and Shotgun (J29, RNYC) proved too good trading the top two places. The inshore race proved tough for the smaller classes with breezes reaching 35K. Blue tack (Sonata, SYC) went on to take first place after 26 miles with Riding High (Westerly Fulmar, RNYC) proving the best of the white sails.

The fast yachts left for their inshore race on day 2. Cactus Jack (Beneteau 34.7, CYC) sailed well to finish in 2nd place but Ruby recovered from missing the second mark to go on and take 1st place. Bay races for the other classes provided great spectator sport with sportsboats reaching in excess of 17K and many yachts struggling to keep their spinnakers in check on the downwind legs. Risky Business (Melges 24, RNYC) and Liftingsaftey (SB3, SYC) revelled in the breeze to take the honours for the day. Galaxy 42 (Jeaneau fun, SYC) took the honours from Blue tack in race one, but the later continued good form finishing the second race in 1st place.

Day 3 brought 25K breezes for the sportsboats inshore race. Filska (Melges 24, RNYC) and Filthy Gorgeous (Projection 762, RNYC) showed great boats handling in the breeze to take 3rd and 2nd but neither could hold Risky business who revelled in the breeze. With the fast yacht Brighteyes (Oyster 41, RNYC) found form finishing 2nd in the 1st bay race, but Ruby again showed her class taking 1st pace in race one and 2nd for race two. The big boats struggled with their kites with several spectacular broaches. Sonic (sonata, SYC) and stratagem (sonata, SYC) sailed well but again Blue tack proved too strong taking bullets in both races. Ragtime (hustler 25.5.) was coming into her own in the white sail fleet scoring two 1st places.

For the final day the breeze moderated but racing continued to be close. Ragtime continued her dominance of the white sail class with two more 1st’s and taking the class overall from Barcarolle (sadler 29, RTYC) in 2nd and Danna (Moody 31, RTYC) in 3rd. Ruby continued her dominance finishing 1st overall in the fast yachts, with Shotgun in 2nd and Cactus Jack in 3rd. The medium class was dominated by SYC Sonatas with White Magic in third, Sonic in second and Blue Tack in first. Risky Business finished top in the sports boats with Liftingsafety in second and Filska in 3rd.

The race team went on to award a special prize for overall best yacht which was awarded to Blue Tack.

All competitors left happy and a big thank you goes to them all for supporting the event. A special thanks to the ECSW committee for their organisation and the RNYC for their faultless hospitality.

Overall Results: