Yachting World Dayboat open meeting at Avon Sailing Club
by Simon Bullingham 3 Jun 22:13 BST
23 May 2026
Yachting World Dayboats at Avon © Simon Bullingham
The annual migration of YWDB's from the coast to Gloucestershire took place at the weekend with nine boats competing in a calm and beautifully sunny event. There was very little wind, a fair bit of current, and it was extremely hot. The sailing was difficult.
Massive credit must go to Jon Wood and his race committee team including Felix, Dickie and Tony for getting 3 races away in the most marginal of conditions. In these conditions, the local ASC members in the fleet seemed to have an advantage with Anthony "Win-all" Lynall ending with two first places counting but the third "bullet" being denied by some great sailing from Matt Straker. Club commodore Tracy Lashford was the winning crew.
Simon and Georgie Bullingham finished a creditable second on countback. There were local club members in each of the top three boats.
On display was a great range of youth and experience. The extremely experienced Pete Hewitt narrowly missing out on second place on count back with ASC club bosun Alfie as crew. Also gaining experience were Martha and Harry Wylie who improved throughout and the junior generation of Hewitts (Max, Stan, Will and Henry) who will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. Max won this year's plate with Uncle Mikey being told what to on the helm.
The YWDB is a heavy craft to be sailing in marginal conditions, and at times the winner was the boat that went backwards least, on the current. That said, there were crews who performed consistently despite the tough conditions.
The event is now in its 5th year, and the excellent Avon hospitality lived up to expectations with a fantastic BBQ on Saturday evening, thanks must go to the catering and bar volunteers who helped make the event what it has become. The site on the banks of the Severn looked beautiful thanks to the volunteer members of the grounds team led by James Aylward.
YWDB Class Chairman James Hewitt noted that Anthony Lynall, despite losing his top crew for the nationals, will be one to watch in Poole. Chairman Hewitt, noted in his speech that Simon and Georgie Bullingham sailed spectacularly, despite the challenging conditions, just about beating all four Hewitts for the first time ever. The mighty "Puddleduck" making a spectacular entrance to the fleet and making its presence felt both on and off the water!
The normal race to Lower Lode pub on the Sunday was cancelled due to lack of wind but many of the competitors still managed to navigate their way there via various alternative means.
A lot of fun was had by all and hopefully next year there will be a bit more breeze!
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Boat name | Helm | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 619 | Moody Blue | Anthony Lynall | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| 5 | 676 | Mallory | Jim Hewitt | 1 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 4 | 621 | Daydreamer | Matt Straker | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 8 | 648 | Shamal | Jacob Lutton | 3 | 5 | 4 | 7 |
| 2 | 642 | Puddleduck | Simon Bullingha | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 9 | 631 | Lady Jane | James Wylie | 4 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| 7 | 677 | Genevieve | Andy Hewitt | 5 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
| 3 | 669 | Merlin | Pete Hewitt | 2 | 1 | 5 | 3 |
| 6 | 678 | Groovy | Mike Hewitt | 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |