Edinburgh Regatta 2022 at Granton, Edinburgh

Edinburgh Regatta 2022 © David Penny

The Edinburgh Regatta took place on 25/26 June at Granton, Edinburgh, jointly hosted by Royal Forth YC and Forth Corinthians YC. It was last held in 2019 like so many other events.

Traditionally all keelboats are invited to this regatta on the Forth for both windward/leeward racing for Fast & Slow yachts and Sports/Day boats as well as passage races for Cruisers.

Entries were difficult to predict so the organising committee were delighted to receive 26 entries from the host clubs as well as Port Edgar and Burntisland. Port Edgar SC organised a feeder race on Saturday morning which delivered their boats to Granton just in time for the first start. Unfortunately Covid and other unfortunate events had started to impact the fleet even before the start and Saturday racing started with 22 boats spread across 5 classes - six 707s and handicap complications warranted a separate result for this class.

A brisk SW wind resulted in some exciting racing for all classes. The cruisers started first on a 10-mile race followed 15 minutes later by the other classes. The 2 windward/leeward races were exciting to watch with some close racing in the 707s and some spectacular broaches as the wind picked up. At the end of the 2 races James McDougall and team in Beneteau First 30E "Shoki" was 1st in the Fast class, Justin Venton in "Jetstream" led the 707s, John Lane in H-Boat "Humdinger" was leading the Sports/Day boats and Brian Pennycook in Maxi 84 "Misty Blue" had led the Cruiser fleet home. Racing was followed by a barbeque and drinks on the RFYC terrace - great to see visitors after the long wait.

Sunday's racing was in a very unusual SE wind which was gusting between 12 and 28 knots and swinging constantly by 30 degrees. The fleet was further reduced due to more Covid and the forecast. Nevertheless the ROs managed to set the cruisers off on an exciting 12-mile tour and the other fleets managed another 2 races before the ROs and a number of boats decided to call it a day. Ian Hard's Div1 "Hardslog" dominated the Fast class on day 2, Ronnie Millar in "Cacciatore" had a better day in the 707 (albeit with some "interesting" spinnaker work) and Tim McBride's team in Hawk 20 "Bonnie" gave a great lone performance to win the Slow fleet. The Sports/Day boat turnout had reduced to zero.

Ian Rogers and crew in their Achilles 24 "Amare" were presented with the Britannia Trophy for the performance that most impressed the Race Officers due to their resilience in the wind and waves plus 2nd place overall in the Cruiser fleet. They were allowed to hold this historic trophy for photographs before it was returned to it's home on the RFYC wall!

Overall Results: