Mailspeed Sportsboat Regatta at Pwllheli Sailing Club

The Mailspeed Sportsboat Regatta has now established itself as one of the premier annual events in the north of Britain, hosted by Pwllheli Sailing Club. Pwllheli enjoys an enviable location on the Llyn Peninsula and, with the stunning backdrop of the Snowdonia Mountains, the sailing waters of Tremadoc Bay are second to none.

The event traditionally takes place on the first May Bank Holiday weekend and, blessed once again with near perfect sailing conditions, it was a great way to kick off the racing for the Sportsboats here. Pwllheli now has one of the strongest 1720 fleets in the country, with 18 boats based here and racing on a regular basis. Most of the helms and crews are now in their second or third seasons in the boats and, given the number of National and World Champions already in the fleet, the racing is always of a high standard and extremely competitive. Over 20 boats turned out for this regatta and, although the fleet was dominated by the 1720’s, who enjoyed excellent one-design racing, there were also two H22’s, a Projection and a 707. The event’s sponsor, Mailspeed, owned by Simon Relph, was represented in the 1720 class by Simon himself, helming his own boat in its second season and finishing third overall. Simon is a former GP World Champion, and, as the dealer for 1720’s in the North West, he is keen to promote and support racing for them in this area.

The Mailspeed Regatta was held over 3 days with 8 races scheduled, 7 to count: 3 on Saturday and Sunday and 2 on the Monday. The courses, all windward/leewards and sailed back to back were well-set in some very tricky conditions and praise is due to Richard Tudor and his team, who gave up their time to run this event in an efficient and professional manner.

Saturday’s racing kicked off in bright sunshine and a light south-westerly wind. Everyone was pushing the line hard and the first race of the day got underway on the 3rd start after 2 general recalls. ‘Green Monkey’, owned by Roy Taylor and helmed by his son Alex, got away clean at the start and held onto an impressive lead all the way round the course, finishing nearly 2 minutes ahead of the next boat. During the race, the wind shifted and became more northerly as the sea breeze began to build, but the race officer is to be congratulated on managing to re-lay the windward mark successfully to maintain a good course. Race 2 again got away on the 3rd start, but a large windshift halfway through the race meant that places changed dramatically. ‘Regent’, owned by Sian Evans and helmed by Rob Smith, took first place, with a newcomer to the fleet, ‘Polecat’ in second and ‘Gul’, owned and helmed by Mike Budd in third. Mike came to this regatta fresh from his recent success in Mumm 30’s in the Solent and it was no surprise to see him coming through as a key player. By the time Race 3 got away after 2 more general recalls, the wind had settled more and the race was very close. First place again went to ‘Regent’, establishing them as the overnight leaders.

Off the water, Pwllheli Sailing Club, in conjunction with the sponsor, had gone to a lot of effort to put on a full social programme for this event. Due to the generosity of Mailspeed they were able to provide excellent food and entertainment on the Saturday evening, free of charge for all the crews in the form of a Mexican evening. Margaritas/Tequila Sunrises were served at the Commodore’s Reception, followed by Chilli and then a disco. The crew of ‘Discount Glass’ deserve a special mention for their superb efforts at Mexican fancy dress!!

Sunday dawned to another sunny day, but with a fresher and more northerly breeze, making for excellent sailing conditions with a very flat sea. The first race of the day saw everyone as competitive as ever on the line, with general recalls becoming something of a habit! The first beat headed inshore and the race would be won by those who were able to pick the best wind shifts. After a slow first day, getting used to new sails, ‘Mailspeed’ won Race 4 and began to emerge as another dominant player. ‘Regent’ and ‘Gul’ remained consistent, taking 2nd and 4th places respectively. After 2 more general recalls in Race 5, the race officer decided it was time to bring out the black flag, which was used in every subsequent start. ‘Gul’ and ‘Regent’ fought it out hard throughout the race, but in the end Mike Budd took first place in Races 5 and 6, with ‘Mailspeed’ counting a 2nd and a 5th, making for interesting overall scores.

All was very much to play for coming into Monday’s racing, with 3 boats all potentially able to win overall. There was less sunshine on the last day, but there was a good 4/5 easterly breeze blowing in off the mountains. The last 2 races of the regatta were very close, with ‘Regent’ and ‘Gul’ winning a race each. ‘Skullduggery’, owned by Justin Chisholm and Dave Leather, had a good last day, counting two 3rd places to put them into 5th place overall. ‘Discount Glass’, owned by Ian Williams and helmed by Dave Jones took second in the last race, which meant they were counting 4 top 5 results and finished 4th overall.

In the end, ‘Regent’ took first place overall, finishing just 2 points ahead of ‘Gul’. Both boats had remained very consistent throughout the regatta and the results were well deserved. Rob Smith, who helmed ‘Regent’ is no stranger to top class competition and heads off now to France to continue his already very successful Melges campaign. 3rd place overall went to ‘Mailspeed’. A prize also went to ‘Longshot’, Adrian Long’s Projection, as the first non 1720 overall.

This was a very well attended open regatta, with crews travelling from all over the country. It was efficiently organised, both on and off the water and a big thank you goes to the sponsor, Mailspeed, who provided some very generous prizes for each day’s racing as well as for the overall results. We look forward to next year’s event!

Event Photos: (© Dave Walker, click thumbnail for full picture)

Overall Results: (8 races, 1 discard)