RS, Allen, Noble Marine Notts County Sailing Club Spring Regatta 2018
by David Eberlin 31 May 09:07 BST
26-28 May 2018
Notts County Sailing Club's Spring Regatta took place over the bank holiday weekend. The RYA/Yachts & Yachting Club of the Year chose the theme for this year's event as Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Recycling was encouraged and the club used washable plates and cutlery where possible, the children took part in the RYA Bluegreen Marine CSI challenge, keeping them entertained on Sunday. The event is a popular family friendly regatta with racing for all ages and levels of ability. RS Sailing, Allen Brothers and Noble Marine Insurance sponsored prizes, meaning the youngsters in particular went away with something, as did many adults.
Over 185 registered for the event which included the socials. Over 75 craft took part in the long weekend, many in two person boats, 17 were visitors from other clubs. There were about 50 juniors sailing, both crewing, helming and participating in the fun events, including the RYA CSI challenge and build a model boat out of recycled material.
The club also hosted the Graduate class nationals over the weekend, who are reporting separately, they enjoyed their weekend at the club, and thanked the club for a wonderful championship.
The weather was near perfect (though a little breezy for some) and even the thunderstorms hitting nearby Birmingham missed us (just), we had sunshine on all days, with a brisk wind on Saturday, a little less on Sunday and much less on Monday, and it was warm. With the excellent organisation, what more could you want.
The weekend starts with preparations and bring your own BBQ as everyone set up camp and checked out the bar on Friday. Saturday morning seeing registration and the Commodore's Cup (Handicap fast, slow and juniors) starting off the racing. In the fast fleet Jamie Mawson from Notts County set a blistering pace in his RS600, sailing pretty much flawlessly the whole weekend. He was followed in all but one race by the Scorpion of Janet & Alan Ritchie from Chipstead, with Matt Potter and John Rowell third in the first race. Luke Hardy and John Wells were third overall in the fast with a forth & second. The Junior fleet saw Adam Foster from Notts County dominate with two firsts followed by Raife Piggott. The slow fleet saw Stephanie & Katherine Gunn win with two firsts in their Mirror, Sarah Venning also from the home club coming second in her laser and Rob & Karen Bell from Emberton SC third in their Firefly.
The overall Commodore's Cup results were Jamie Mawson, with Stephanie & Katherine Gunn runner up and Adam Foster winning the Juniors.
The Regatta Cup is aimed at novices and families, crews often helm and some were entering their first race, youngsters also race with the adults, with 43 entries it is popular event and won by junior James Tilyard in his laser radial. Josh Bennett and Alex Brown from Toddbrook were second in a GP14 and Joe Taylor third in a Hansa Liberty. The racing takes place over a short compact course around lunchtime each day.
The third major race each day is the Class trophy split into Double hander, RS & Fireball, Scorpion, Single hander, Laser, Junior and windsurfer. The double handers saw the Gunn's mirror win, the Junior was won by Raife Piggott, the Laser Julian Lloyd, windsurfers by junior Duncan Monaghan, RS & Fireball Jamie Mawson, Scorpion Janet & Alan Ritchie and single handers Jake Willars (Junior).
There was also team racing using The University of Nottingham's Fireflys.
The prize for the oldest boat has to go to John Sears sailing a 58 year old restored National 12 "Slick Chick" (Mk 9) with his daughter Catherine.
The social side was also well catered for with an excellent roast and sweet by Pauline, the club caterer on Saturday, followed by a band, and Sunday saw a Midshires farm BBQ with a silent disco following the fancy dress. Many chose to avail themselves of the bar and catch up or put the world to rights in the warm evening sunshine.
James Logan the vice commodore, who organised the event with wife Phillipa thanked the sponsors, Allen, RS, Noble Marine along with Pauline & Colin for catering, Martin & Moria Hart for the bar organisation, and Jeff Hardy and Tim Miles-Haylor and team for safety cover, which was kept busy two days of the regatta. Ross Ryan for organising the Team Racing, plus many other too numerous to mention.
Roll on next year's event. More photos at ncsc.org.uk/2018/05/26/spring-regatta-2018
Full results for each fleet can be found at ncsc.org.uk/2018/05/26/spring-regatta-2018