OK Border Trophy - Preview
by Karen Robertson 21 Apr 2025 19:34 BST
26-27 April & 7-8 June 2025
OK Border Trophy © OK Dinghy Class
This coming weekend sees the first half of the OK Border Trophy being sailed at the Ullswater YC Daffodil Regatta. The Border Trophy started in 2023 as an initiative to help grow the fleet in the North of England and Scotland and consists of two events, one on each side of the Border.
The 2025 edition of this mini-series consists of the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta in April and the East Lothian YC Regatta at North Berwick at the start of June. The winner is the sailor who has the best cumulative score over the two events and it was won in 2023 by Chris Turner from Lyme Regis and in 2024 by Keith Byers from Morecambe SC.
Daffodil Regatta at Ullswater Yacht Club (26/27 April)
This is the third year the class has attended and at the time of writing we are currently the 2nd largest class attending the event with 11 entries coming from as far afield as Hayling Island and Lyme Regis in the south as well as more local entries.
In previous years Ullswater has proven to be a tricky place to sail, with luck, guile and a keen eye for windshifts proving essential and we expect more of the same this year!
Sailors to watch out for include Ovington Boats MD Chris Turner who is always quick, Adam Savage from Elton SC who placed 9th at last years Nationals, Matthew Webb from Blithfield who was showing great speed at the Inlands in March and Mike McMillan from Loch Earn who has bought the 2023 Worlds winning boat and is also showing great potential.
In a change to previous years, the club have organised a mobile Fish and Chip van to come onsite to feed the sailors on the Saturday night after successfully doing this at the Birkett Regatta last year. We are assured however that the well stocked UYC bar will still be open!
Entries are via the Sailracer website.
For more details of how to get there and where to stay visit our UYC venue guide.
ELYC Regatta: Scottish Nationals (7/8 June)
A strong attendance at North Berwick last year as well as fantastic conditions and hospitality sees the OK Fleet returning to ELYC once again in 2025. With the re-vamp of the OK Grand Slam series and creation of the UK Ranking list, the event is included as the Scottish & Northern region event and one of the three sea events.
For those who have not sailed at North Berwick before, the event has great atmosphere from the expected 100+ entries, great open water sailing with great waves and just enough tide to make it interesting.
It's no wonder that it is a favourite venue for many classes to hold their Nationals at. Last year saw travellers from as far afield as Bristol and Oxford with Tom Lonsdale from P&B and currently #2 in the UK Ranking list reveling in the conditions to take the win and we hope he comes north again to defend his title.
Entries are via the ELYC website
For more details on visiting ELYC please visit our Substack version of this article.