Teign Corinthian Yacht Club Ship-in-a-Bottle Regatta
by Anton Saxton 30 May 2018 16:05 BST
26-28 May 2018
Teign Corinthian Yacht Club Ship-in-a-Bottle Regatta © TCYC
While the rest of Devon dashed for the beach under a cloudless sky, we started our regatta (sponsored by London Inn, Shaldon) with general milling around the slipway. No wind for sailing is something of a conundrum - like a ship in a bottle, which is also the regatta's trophy - literally.
Eventually race officer and ex RAF man, Don Harrison gave the command, when the sea breeze he predicted came bang on cue. All that was missing was a big bell, with the words 'when you hear the bell, launch like hell'. Ignoring two general recalls, due to the tide having turned sharply (yes, we got caught out!), the rest of the day went smoothly with no big wind shifts.
By day three the intensity of the competition was getting as hot as the weather. James Stevenson and Ray Potter who had each won a race in the previous day went head to head. James said 'I got to windward of Ray in an attempt to muck up Ray's start, but in doing so mucked up my own start.' Luckily we are a friendly sailing club.
The Teign estuary does have its challenges with some strange wind effects. That is, unless it's an Easterly sea breeze coming directly upriver and holding a steady 10mph. Which is exactly what it did - for the whole regatta. That made for fast, consistent and smooth sailing, as Ray Potter said 'boat speed became more important than local knowledge, which resulted in a lot of very close sailing'.
So the biggest conundrum of the weekend was not how they got that ship into the bottle, but how come there was nothing left to complain about. Good weather, fine sailing, edible BBQ and jolly good company. Something of a conundrum, maybe?
Overall Results:
1st Solo 3965, James Stevenson, 5pts
2nd Solo 4795, Neil Howard, 11pts
3rd K1 85, Ray Potter, 12pts