ILCA Eastern Area GP at Royal Harwich Yacht Club
by Gordon Sutton 8 Jun 16:19 BST
7 June 2026

Start line off Pin Mill - ILCA Eastern Area GP at Royal Harwich © Steve Le Grys
On Sunday 7th June, Royal Harwich Yacht club hosted the eastern area GP traveller series. We had 28 boats in total entered for the day: four ILCA 4, eight ILCA 6 and sixteen ILCA 7.
Due to the direction of the wind, we took the committee boat down to Pin Mill, where you can get a nice funnel effect down the hill opposite.
The fleet asked for windward-leeward and in a brisk Force 3 with gusts, we managed three races. We set them a decent length starting line, to enable most boats to get on the line, then shortened for the finish which gave them more of a beat back up to the line.
From the CB we witnessed some great downwind sailing in the gusts.
ILCA 4 fleet was won by William Keys-Batson from NBYC with Ben Wilton from RHYC finishing second.
ILCA 6 fleet was dominated by James Deaton from RHYC, second Harry Wemyss from GYGSC and third was Austin Edward's from Blackwater SC.
ILCA 7 had a different winner for each race, there was a tie for first place, so we had to rely on last race positions to decide. Each race had very close racing in the top few spots. First was Paul Davies RHYC, Second Cameron Harris RHYC and third Ben Reason HTSC.
The club would like to thank all those that turned up for the event and hope to see you all return next year.
ILCA 4 Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
| 1st | 221319 | William Keys‑Batson | NBYC | 1 | 1 | ‑2 | 2 |
| 2nd | 209984 | Ben Wilton | RHYC | ‑3 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| 3rd | 213973 | Isobelle Johnson | WOBYC | 2 | 2 | ‑3 | 4 |
| 4th | 200835 | Katie Fox | RHYC | ‑4 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
ILCA 6 Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
| 1st | 215271 | James Deaton | RHYC | ‑1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2nd | 182213 | Harry Wemyss | GYGSC | ‑5 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 3rd | 187496 | Austin Edwards | Blackwater | 2 | 3 | ‑5 | 5 |
| 4th | 205337 | Mike Steele | SESCA | ‑6 | 4 | 3 | 7 |
| 5th | 180958 | Danny Blackburn | RHYC | 3 | 5 | ‑6 | 8 |
| 6th | 224756 | Toby Lester | RHYC | 4 | (RET) | 4 | 8 |
| 7th | 203976 | Harley Ford | RHYC | 7 | (DNC) | DNC | 16 |
| 8th | 164441 | Polly Fairbanks | RHYC | (RET) | DNC | DNC | 18 |
ILCA 7 Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
| 1st | 224542 | Paul Davies | RHYC | 1 | ‑2 | 2 | 3 |
| 2nd | 0 | Cameron Harris | RHYC | 2 | 1 | ‑7 | 3 |
| 3rd | 201478 | Ben Reason | HTSC | ‑8 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 4th | 224336 | Nathan Russell | RHYC | 3 | 3 | ‑4 | 6 |
| 5th | 205131 | Adam Fuller | RHYC | 4 | 5 | ‑6 | 9 |
| 6th | 207011 | Daniel Bull | Rollesby Broad | 7 | ‑13 | 3 | 10 |
| 7th | 220633 | Stephen Videlo | RHYC | ‑6 | 6 | 5 | 11 |
| 8th | 219825 | Dave Reason | HTSC | 5 | 8 | ‑13 | 13 |
| 9th | 167860 | Freddie Brasted‑Watts | RHYC | 9 | 7 | ‑11 | 16 |
| 10th | 118779 | Chris Mahew | RHYC | ‑10 | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| 11th | 182567 | Bruce Becket | WOBYC | ‑12 | 10 | 9 | 19 |
| 12th | 205712 | Will Finch | RHYC | ‑11 | 11 | 10 | 21 |
| 13th | 224155 | Simon Beckett | WOBYC | ‑14 | 12 | 12 | 24 |
| 14th | 183923 | Joshua Reason | HTSC | 13 | 15 | ‑16 | 28 |
| 15th | 188081 | Graham Ireland | RHYC | (RET) | 14 | 14 | 28 |
| 16th | 1 | Melissa Fisher | RHYC | 15 | ‑16 | 15 | 30 |