Charlestown Regatta 2026 at Porthpean Sailing Club

Charlestown Regatta at Porthpean © Stacey Bray

Charlestown Regatta Day sailing has a long and proud history of being raced in 'batten down the hatches' conditions, and once more 'version 2026' did not fail to deliver. As part of Porthpean SC's weekend of 75th birthday celebrations, Saturday scheduled three races back to back on a course laid just off the beautiful Charlestown harbour. The afternoon was billed as a spectacle for the visitors but quickly became a thrilling game of gusts for the competitors. And with 'Regatta Rocks' tickets up for grabs it was everything to play for.

A WNW wind in St. Austell bay calms the waters and discreetly blows the tops off the waves out to sea. From the protection of the Clubhouse the day looked to set to be another stunner. For some, the remnants of the previous evening's carousing lingered heavily in the head and the hands, but nothing could dampen the air of enthusiasm in the yard. 29 sailors rigged and readied for three races to be sailed on a reverse P-course in the bay.

Even before the sailors had reached the start line it was evident that the scattered black marks dancing around the water contained a special kind of air bomb that would ultimately deliver some pretty funky violence. Racing under a P flag, with separate starts for fast fleet and slow fleet, Commodore Stacey Bray got the first race under way only to find the techy-techy tablet set up we are now using to record the racing had spent too much time sunbathing and had gone off to cool down.

General recall. Roving Reporter and Cohort Paddy could not have been happier, at the point of recall, we were blocked by a certain Shaun Welsh & Steve Coello in their Tasar who, on noticing our urgency to tack in order to avoid the inevitable port tack mark arrival flavoured chaos, chose to continue straight on, preventing us from tacking, apparently 'enjoying our pain'. Bit mean...

First race restarted, clean get away for all, bar one. We looked around to clock where Jer & Suzanne Hawkins were only to find they had been a little too eager on the start and were over the line. No problem for our current Tasar National Champions, they promptly returned, undid their jump start and re-joined the fleet at the back.

Charlestown Regatta at Porthpean - photo © Stacey Bray

The beat was a tricky affair, with such unpredictable wind there was no obvious line to take, the direction you sailed for one beat was completely incorrect next time round. Some got lucky, others less so. For our National Champions it was the kind of challenge they relish, and they quickly chomped through the fleet to catch the race leaders Allan Orton in his Blaze and Cohort & the Roving Reporter in their Tasar.

The beat, however, wasn't the real challenge of the day. By now, the swirly black wind fingers were stalking for victims. Most of the chaos appeared from nowhere, spread like an atomic bomb then disappeared leaving helms and crews looking at each other in 'WTF' disbelief. One particularly mean-streaked wind spirit had chosen to set up camp on the gybe mark. Of course it had.

Over the 3 races, target after target flew from the windward mark up the tight reach to meet to the lurking mark monster. Many rocketed past unable to gybe, more than a few chose to wear round, and obviously several went swimming. Interestingly/amusingly, this particular gust seemed to have a penchant for Blazes, Dave Parsons & Justin Phyall saw the bottoms of their shiny white hulls, at that spot, on more than once that afternoon. Unfortunately so did father and son team Ron & William Barratt, and despite a heroic effort to right the boat, poor William took a nasty bang to his face from the rudder and required some safety boat assistance and a tow home.

Charlestown Regatta at Porthpean - photo © Stacey Bray

Race 1 finished after 4 solid laps, with Allan Orton denying the gybe mark monster a feast to take the win. Jer & Suzanne did what champions do, shook off their bad start and caught the entire fleet up to nab second place with Cohort and Roving Reporter coming in 3rd. In the slow fleet it was Solo sailor Tosh who took the win with Paul Sanders in his Aero in second place.

After a little break to allow the wind to increase (!), the second race got under way and the father daughter team of Ciaran & Emma Spencer were flying. Arriving third to the windward mark it was smiles all round right up until a naughty halyard elf saw fit to break/undo/remove a shackle on the jib. A frustrating retirement, but they had had some great racing beforehand.

At the front Jer & Suzanne were firmly in the lead and being chased down by Allan Orton and Cohort & Reporter. Arriving at the gybe mark just behind Allan, we watched as the big black gust consumed him and then spat him out, in our boat there was a mini suggestion to tack around, but we put on our big pants and firmed the gybe. Despite our efforts, and a very, very messy leeward mark rounding which let Richard Armstrong & Ken Fobbester through for a bit, we couldn't catch the pair ahead of us.

Charlestown Regatta at Porthpean - photo © Stacey Bray

Race 2 over, with Jer & Suzanne taking the win, Cohort & Reporter in second, followed in by Richard & Ken in their Tasar in third. Once more in the slow fleet, Tosh took the win with Paul in second position.

Final race of the day started as the sky behind Charlestown went black and the sea a scary kind of white. Visiting Tasar, helmed by Sarah Rendall, with hubby crew Martin, were improving with each race and near the end of the first beat they called starboard on Cohort and I resulting in a very fast and frantic tack on our part. Just the tonic they needed after their surprise capsize to windward in the last race, once more at the hands of the gybe mark monster.

By now Justin in his Blaze had enjoyed one capsize too many and had headed home as had Mike Voyzey & Dave Saunders in their Tasar. Up at the front in Cohort & Reporter's boat, things were clicking beautifully and after the second beat we popped out ahead of the National Champs to lead the race.

Charlestown Regatta at Porthpean - photo © Stacey Bray

Further back, team Royle were challenging for the 'will they, won't they capsize trophy' with some of the hairiest downwind sailing I think crew Clare has ever endured. I understand a rum and coke fixed all that trauma later. Allan Orton had now shaken off his encounter with the devil at the gybe mark and was chasing us down. As we headed for the finish line, pole up, we squeakily rock'n'rolled our way to the finish line ahead of the fleet to take the final bullet of the day.

Allan followed us in taking second place with Jer & Suzanne in third. There was a change at the top in the slow fleet with Paul taking the win and Tosh sitting in second place.

Off Black Head, to the right of the bay, the cliff was now enveloped in a squally mess telling us all that it was definitely beer o'clock and time to leave the playground.

Huge thanks to Commodore Stacey and his daughter Lucy for running three fab races, to the RIB crews for sitting out in the gusty mess & keeping us safe and to Jer & Suzanne for finally letting us beat you, it seems that the combination of hangovers and chaos was all we needed!!!

Sarah Desjonqueres and Paddy Seyler, Fast Fleet winners - Charlestown Regatta at Porthpean - photo © Clare Royle

Fast Fleet Results:

Slow Fleet Results: