Norfolk Punt Club Sunday Club Racing - Late May 2025

Norfolk Punt Club on Barton Broad © Robin Myerscough

The combination of the Thurne Mouth regatta and a blustery forecast reduced numbers to a small select fleet for Sunday racing at the Norfolk Punt Club. The day was largely sunny and warm with occasional grey clouds and one or two showers. The fresh breeze from the west gusted strongly but did not reach the gale force that was at one point forecast.

Just three starters for the first race, Simon Clayton helming the club Yeoman with Rob Black, Kathy Gill in their brown boat with Simon and dog, and Amanda Brooks in YBOD 42 with son Will and Paul Flynn. A triangle and sausage north of the island with average lap times was challenging with big gusts on deceptively calm water. The commodore in the Yeoman very narrowly beat Kathy in her brown boat. Amanda on a steep learning curve in her recently acquired white boat struggled with gybes and bearing away in the big puffs, so did not finish.

Simon and Fil Daniels in YBOD 54 joined the fun for the second race. The sensible decision to reef the white boats lead to a short postponement. A longer course was set with lots of beating. An excellent closely competed start encouraged Simon Clayton to be on course side, but in spite of this he recovered to finish first over the water. The white boats managed much better with a reef and the fleet had a close race. The brown boat took first place, Yeoman second, and YBOD 54 third.

The breeze, though variable, moved more consistently to NW, so some start and course changes were hurriedly made for the third race. This was also closely contested with reefed YBODs competing well with the other boats. The commodore/Yeoman combination again unbeatable, closely followed by Simon Daniels, then Simon Learmont now helming the brown boat.

In the final race there were only two starters, fatigue having affected some of the competitors, the reefed Silver Blue beating Greenshank.

Thank you to the whole team but especially to Morag and Alison for excellent cakes and tea, and to Martin, Tamara, John Friend and Anne Girling in the safety boats.

Race 1:
1. S. Clayton - Club Yeoman
2. K. Gill - Broads OD Greenshank
3. A. Brooks - YBOD Azure Blue RET

Race 2:

1. S. Gill - Broads OD Greenshank
2. S. Clayton - Club Yeoman
3. S. Daniels - YBOD Silver Blue

Race 3:

1. S. Clayton - Club Yeoman
2. S. Daniel - YBOD Silver Blue
3. S Learmont - Broads OD Greenshank

Race 4:

1. S. Daniels - YBOD Silver Blue
2. S. Learmont - Broads OD Greenshank