Annual Regatta at Burnham Sailing Club
by Sally Harbott 9 Sep 2018 17:37 BST
8 September 2018
Despite grey skies and early rain, nothing could dampen the spirits of the Burnham Sailing Club members who gathered for their annual Regatta. With the dinghy racing planned for the morning, the conclusion of the Saturday Cruiser series in the afternoon, all day activities for the pre sailor juniors and an action packed afternoon of fun and frolics ashore what wasn't there to enjoy? Did we mention the Macmillan Coffee morning with members pulling out all the stops to produce simply stunning cakes, which raised an amazing £290.03.
The pre sailors headed off on their pirate treasure hunt afloat, whilst the dinghy sailors launched and started their three race series. There were three classes; fast handicap, slow handicap and the Optimist class which was split into race and regatta divisions. The PRO set a good course and with the wind unable to make up its mind between southerly and south westerly did a great job ensuring that there was a beat.
In the fast handicap, the two 29ers enjoyed really close racing at times during the first two races, Ben Hutton Penman and Nathan Clark coming out ahead off the other 29er in the first race and Dylan Collingbourne and Sophie Johnson coming out on top in the battle in the second race winning the race outright in the class.
James Hutton-Penman in his Aero 7 was sailing really hard and this ensured he was at the top of the results. In the Laser 4.7s in the class, Milly Drew and James Ball raced hard to keep up with the faster but higher rated boats. The Topper Sport raced well, although suffered some spinnaker issues and lost out at some of the mark roundings.
Unfortunately before the third race, Dylan and Sophie had to retire to shore for repairs, and Liam Hanna and Charlie Harbott in the Topper Sport also having to miss the final race. Overall, James Hutton-Penman won, with Ben Hutton Penman and Nathan Clark second and Milly Drew third.
In the slow handicap, all were Tera Pro rigs except one. Their racing was close and although once the ebb tide really took off they found the cross tide legs tricky, they still raced well to complete all their three races. Oliver Johnson won with Ethan Hague second. William Johnson in his Tera Sport sailed brilliantly taking a second and 2 4ths, always finishing in amongst or just off the Pro rigged boats.
The Optimists did a sausage course and during their two races managed to complete lots of laps. In the race fleet, Amelia Hague winning with two bullets, George Cooke second on countback from Charlie Rawlings third. The regatta fleet, coached by Nicky Johnson, did well to round the marks with the strong flood tide. Esme Van Schagen won the class with Joseph Banks second and Oliver O'Brien third.
After a hot pizza lunch, the junior sailors and pre sailors headed out to a mixed water relay, with canoe, kayak, optimist and paddle board legs. Four teams competed in two heats and team 2 came out on top.
In the cruisers, four boats raced, with Mantra with two juniors aboard, Jeannie with as young junior aboard, Traigh with a further two juniors aboard and Scintilla II owned by John and Margaret Mellard, the President of the Burnham Sailing Club. The course took the boats up to Cliff before returning to Number 13, Cliff Reach, number 9 and Number 13. Phillip Harbott in his Aphrodite Mantra was OCS but returned with the tide quickly to clear the line. He was tucked up under the North Shore out of the tide, with the remaining three in the middle of the river in a good breeze.
John Saunders in Jeannie led from the start and the boat was really enjoying the good breeze. Mantra quickly worked their way back into second on the water, with Dan Tribe in his UFO Traigh third and the Contessa 32 Scintilla II. On corrected time, Traigh won with Scintilla II second, Jeannie third and Mantra fourth. Phillip Harbott's Mantra has won the series overall.
The attention then turned to tug of war with the Mums team being victorious and this was followed by the mud race, a quick 100 metre circuit in Burnham mud. It was hard to know who enjoyed it more, the competitors or spectators. Prize giving followed before a barbecue on the decking to round off a spectacular day.