Minima Yacht Club Annual Regatta
by John Forbes 6 Sep 2004 18:06 BST
Thames A Raters at the Minima Yacht Club annual regatta © John Forbes
Minima Yacht Club, Kingston-on-Thames's annual open regatta brought together members of three of the Thames's premier sailing clubs for two days of difficult sailing.
Conditions were hot and humid with a blazing sun and a light and fluky wind which mostly came from the east, but varied considerably along the course.
Visitors from Twickenham Yacht Club and the tall sails of the vintage A-raters from Thames Sailing Club (Surbiton) shared the honours with the home crews and there were 40 boats on the river at one point, when the Laser fleet from Tamesis (Teddington) on a long-distance race to Thames Ditton sailed through the middle of the second race.
Combined with bumper Sunday holiday river pleasure boat traffic, there were some hectic moments but barring a little sunburn no one came to grief. Prizes were presented by Kingston's deputy mayor Councillor Penny Shelton.
Overall Results:
Solo:
1 Ian Hurst (Twickenham)
2 John Kemp (Minima YC)
Open Handicap class:
1 Pip Deverson (National 12, Twickenham YC)
2 Daisy Thomas (Topper, Thames SC)
Enterprise:
1 Alan Jales (Minima YC)
2 Alex Cane (Minima YC)
Merlin Rocket:
1 Ben Marshall (Minima YC)
2 Paul Seaman (Minima YC)
Raters (Thames YC):
1 Miles Palmer (Minima YC)
2 Kevin Pearson (Minima YC)