Nordic Folkboats at the Royal Solent Yacht Club Taittinger Regatta

by Chris Baldwick 2 Aug 2016 17:41 BST 30-31 July 2016

Nineteen Nordic Folkboats entered the Folkboat Class in the annual Taittinger Regatta, held at the Royal Solent YC at Yarmouth over the weekend of July 30th/31st.

At the start on Saturday morning competitors arrived to find no wind and a long postponement. Eventually the wind filled in from the northwest, which allowed the race officer to set a course along the shore and against the tide. Crackerjack finished 1st followed by newcomer Svane with Madelaine 3rd. The wind became very light and the tide turned just before the end, which gave the last boats a challenge getting back to the finish.

The second race of the day saw the wind swing to the southwest and with the tide now flooding the tactics changed completely. Again a course up and down the island shore was laid; though not as long as the first race. This time Tak came first followed by Svane and Pilgrim.

Sunday dawned, again windless, but with more sunshine and after another postponement competitors set off to the west with a strong ebb tide towards Hurst. There then followed a long downwind spinnaker run against the tide, and an eventual finish off the Royal Solent YC. Padfoot finished 1st followed by Pilgrim and then Riot.

The racing proved close with different boats winning each race, but the overall winner in the Nordic Folkboat Class was Svane with two second places and a fifth, a great result for a new member of the Folkboat fleet. Padfoot was 2nd over all and Pilgrim 3rd.

Despite this year's lack of wind, the Taittinger Regatta is always a very popular event with many other classes competing and a great social programme.

Overall Results:

Pos	Boat Name	Sail No	Helm	Owner	R1	R2	R3	Pts
1	Svane	GBR 702	Sean Muskett		2	2	5	9
2	Padfoot	GBR723	Chris Hills		4	5	1	10
3	Pilgrim	F 734	Julian Sowry		6	3	2	11
4	Crackerjack	GBR 718	Matthew Jones	Stuart Watson	1	4	7	12
5	Madelaine	FGBR 707	Ed Donald	Ed Donald	3	7	6	16
6	Tak	GBR 713	Jeremy Austin		7	1	9	17
7	Riot	F695	Melissa Ashcombe	Peter Scholfield	8	10	3	21
8	Gremlin	625	Leslie Ross		5	9	8	22
9	Cloud Cuckoo	693	Martin Le Gassicke		9	8	10	27
10	Mimi	GBR722	Chris Beane		13	12	11	36
11	The Otter	GBR720	Claire Locke		12	11	13	36
12	AJAX	F747	John Gallimore		DNF	6	12	38
13	Eala Bheag	F GBR 754	Alasdair Maclean		10	13	17	40
14	Bossa Nova	F685	David Fox	Dave Hirst	DNF	DNC	4	44
15	Scaramouche	FB738	John Whyte		11	DNC	15	46
16	Strider	611	Susie Potter		RAF	15	16	51
17	Millie	717	Gordon Drury	Seanine Joyce	DNF	DNC	14	54
18	Hannchen	613	Toby Waite		DNF	14	DNC	54
19	Columbine	F615	Christine Hartley‑Webster		DNC	DNC	DNS	60