2.4m fleet at the PPSA Port of Plymouth Regatta 2021

2.4m fleet at the PPSA Port of Plymouth Regatta © Paul Gibbins / paulgibbinsphotography.pixieset.com

Five Frensham boats travelled to Plymouth assisted by Shaun Devoto. They were also joined by Jonny Currell from Parkstone making a total of six entries, with two others unfortunately unable to attend due to an injury and a Covid isolation restriction.

Launching on Friday was interesting; down a slipway with helm on-board and a long hand paddle around to the marina (good training for the RNLI). Mr Meeham suggested, whilst paddling for England, that these boats had sails so why not use them. This was deemed an excellent idea making it somewhat less tiresome - though too late for Meeham.

The racing area was large, with a beat of considerable distance (obviously a run to match!) in clear water bar occasional weed. Saturday was the lighter wind day and the start line was shared with some somewhat larger boats than us who fortunately started before us.

We were slightly caught out with sunburn as it was raining when we left the dock, yet by the evening we all had red cheeks and it wasn't a result of the plentiful beers at the evening pontoon party where we joined the J24 fleet before their AGM.

There was a mixed set of results on Saturday and one suspects that weed might have played a significant part, along with some interesting tidal patterns. It definitely seemed to pay to do some backward sailing in between races.

Megan Pascoe didn't quite achieve a clean sweep in the four races as Bruce Hill stole the last, with Meg finishing third. It was also Simon Meehan's first ever 2.4m event finishing a commendable third in the first race; must have been all that paddling the previous evening.

2.4m fleet at the PPSA Port of Plymouth Regatta - photo © Paul Gibbins / paulgibbinsphotography.pixieset.com

Sunday dawned, the wind and waves picked up more and the rain showers were threatening. Megan, Bruce and Jonny suffered some closer-than-hoped incidents around some of the marks with the significantly larger yachts adding to the adrenaline factor. Again, nice long courses and good starts lines with no one out of contention; in fact the fleet stayed together for the three races with very little distance between first and last.

Meg achieved another clean sweep securing her overall win, but wasn't always in the lead (she was once even instructed to stop racing for the turning Santander Ferry). Kate also hit a mark when rounding inside another larger boat, although there was actually plenty of room, She just felt a little intimidated and tacked too early, allowing the tide to take her onto the buoy. She was doing so well up until then.

Overall everyone really enjoyed the event with well-run races, very little hanging around between starts and great hospitality despite Covid restricting many of the social events.

Event website: dinghy-regatta.ppsa.org.uk
Paul Gibbins Photography images available: paulgibbinsphotography.pixieset.com

Overall Results: