Redditch Sailing Club 50th Anniversary Regatta
by Martin Smith 27 Jun 2010 21:10 BST
26-27 June 2010
Redditch Sailing Club 50th Anniversary Regatta © Martin Smith
Over the weekend of 26th - 27th June 2010 Redditch sailing club held it s summer regatta to celebrate the club’s 50th Anniversary. The club which sails on Arrow Valley Lake in the Midlands town of Redditch offers dinghy sailing to Redditch residents and to the residents of local Warwickshire towns and villages.
The regatta commenced at 5.00pm in a gentle breeze with 29 boats coming to the start line, the fleet included a Topper, Miracles, Comets, Fireflies, Enterprise, GP14, Laser, National 12 and Merlin Rocket Dinghies with ages and ability of the crews being as diverse as the fleet. After the second race with two firsts the National 12 was leading from an Enterprise with a second Enterprise and two Merlin Rockets completing the first 5.
After the racing real Ale and Cider were available to wash down the food and a disco encouraged the not too weary to strut their stuff on the dance floor.
Sunday dawned hot with a gentle breeze to greet the crews, who had camped in the dinghy park, the third and fourth race were sailed over the same course with an Enterprise and a Comet taking the line honours with a Firefly taking second in the fourth race. The fifth and final race was started after a short break with the National 12 taking another first to seal overall victory from an Enterprise.
Prizes were awarded to:
Tom White & Crew - 1st (National 12)
Greg Croydon & Gail Ranford - 2nd (Enterprise)
Hannah Sidlow - 1st Lady (Comet)
Lyn Shaw - 2nd Lady (Firefly)
Ben Eaves - 1st Junior (Laser)
Pete Riely - Lowest place helm completing all 5 races (Miracle)
The club will be displaying a Merlin Rocket and Laser in the Kingfisher Shopping Centre, Redditch on Saturday 3rd July 2010 prior to its open day the following weekend. Club members will be on hand to answers questions and advise on how to become involved in sailing at Redditch to anyone who is interested.