Royal Lymington YC and Royal Solent YC Diamond Jubilee Regatta

Prizewinners on the balcony after the Royal Lymington YC and Royal Solent YC Diamond Jubilee Regatta © Hannah Neve

To celebrate Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee, the Royal Lymington Yacht Club and the Royal Solent Yacht Club held a joint Diamond Jubilee Regatta on Saturday June 2rd and Sunday June 3rd, generously sponsored by Wight Vodka and Dubarry. This was a first joint venture between the 2 clubs and as in London, many months were spent on the planning of the event. Entrants were divided into 2 fleets; Diamond, which had IRC Class 1, LH Classes 1 and 2 and the Gaffers racing with a Royal Solent race officer and the Jubilee Fleet, the Folkboats, XODs and YODs with a Royal Lymington Race Officer.

Conditions were changeable: a 10-15 knot easterly on Saturday with flat water and sunshine while on Sunday the wind blew 15-20 knot from the west and against the building flood tide, some big waves were kicked up and the sun made much less of an appearance.

In the Diamond Fleet, both Class 1 IRC and the two LH classes were set challenging courses around the Western Solent for the first race on Saturday. There was some jostling on the line in IRC Class 1 but Chris and Hannah Neve’s No Chance got away cleanly. A long beat saw them pull away from the fleet, but the long run with the tide saw Mark Broadway’s Fidelitas pushing hard. More beats and runs saw No Chance extend their lead and finish ahead of Zarafa and Fidelitas. In the second race, Jibe proved more of a challenge and were only beaten by No Chance by 4 seconds.

21 X Boats from Lymington and Yarmouth appeared on the start line in the Jubilee Fleet. The three Saturday races around windward-leeward courses were the races for the prestigious Alastair Easton Trophy. A keen XOD sailor, Alastair was the Queen’s Sailing Master 1957-58 so it only seemed right to be racing for his trophy in the Diamond Jubilee Regatta.

In race 1 many under-estimated the tide and moth sailor Peter Barton helming Lone Star as a guest star appearance took advantage to win from Diana helmed by Rory Paton and Expeditious helmed by James Markby. In race 2 Diana led from the start to finish first from Lone Star and James Meaning in the beautiful Gleam. In race 3 there was a tight battle at the port end of the start line between Lone Star and Diana, with the latter taking a turn for hitting the pin. Lone Star was able to sail away convincingly to take the win from Karl Thorne's Mersa with Expeditious third.

After racing on Saturday the sailors boarded a small ferry for the trip to Yarmouth for the Regatta Dinner and disco with a welcoming Wight Vodka cocktail.

On Sunday, the big news of the day proved to be the dismasting of Rosenn; owned by Barry Dunning and Bob Fisher, and over 100 years old; while thankfully no-one was hurt, the wooden mast looked a very sad sight in bits on the pontoon.

Sunday's race for the XODs was to be a longer affair for the Vernon Vase which is usually a race past the Needles; however, with a fresh westerly wind against a spring tide the race team wisely set the course only as far West as Hurst. After a general recall the fleet got away with a couple of boats called OCS. Nick Dorely Brown's Mix led from David DaCunha's Mayday and Tom Vernon's Silhouette around the first two marks. On the beat to Hurst through the lumpy "fiddler's race" and resulting long run back, Diana managed to pull through to win from Mix 2nd and Silhouette 3rd.

Overall Lone Star won by a point from Diana with the Brewer family's Zest helmed by Phil Brewer in third place and Peter Fryer's Dolce Vita helmed by James Dodd in 4th.

At the end of racing at Sunday lunchtime, the sailors retired to the bar to enjoy some well earned refreshments and with some wonderful prizes from the sponsors Wight Vodka and Dubarry, it was generally agreed that this joint event had been a great success.

Overall Results:

Diamond Fleet

IRC Class 1
1st No Chance, C/H Neve
2nd Jelly Baby, W Newton
3rd Jibe, Robin Taunt

Class 2 - Div 1
1st Andrillot II, T Stevenson
2nd Charlotte of Lymington, P Blick
3rd Bonni Lady, R Jenner

Class 2 - Div 2
1st Pallas Athene, K Podger
2nd Rooie Rakker N Morgan
3rd Unity, R Truscott

Gaffers
1st Alice III, S Akester/J Rogers
2nd Windflower, M McKeon
3rd Charmina, R Rouse

Jubilee Fleet

Folkboats
1st Crackerjack, S Watson/M Jones
2nd Tak, J Austin
3rd Samphire of Oykel, J Hoare/ G Coulter

Class X XOD
1st Lone Star, S Jardine
2nd Diana E Williams
3rd Zest, R Walters

Class Y YOD
1st Puffin
2nd Diatom, A Hamilton
3rd Blandina, J Smith-Dowse