After the obvious gap of last year, 2021 was the second edition of the revamped Swanage regatta. Sponsored again by Kemp Sails, the weekend started off with a pre-racing Gin night on Friday evening to get everyone in the right mood for the weekend.
Race one started with a reaching start, bearing away onto a run with the Dart 18s naturally flying away in the 17-20 knots of wind. With it being an offshore breeze, the gusts and shifts made for challenging conditions for all the boats with multiple capsizes across all of the classes of boats racing.
After drinking late into the night, sailors returned Sunday morning looking a little bleary eyed and the increased wind of 20-25 knots wasn't the sight they were quite hoping for.
After a quick on-the-water safety check of the conditions, sailors were released for some more racing. Again with a completely different course to previous races, the sailors were clearly at their limit and only one short race was managed. Everyone clearly fatigued as they crossed the finish line to head home.
After all that, Ben Whaley in an Aero 7 was the winner on an overall corrected time of 1:10:37 followed by two Dart 18s. Mark Groome and Wendy Bobbit/Kate Michie finished on a time of 1:15:30 and Richard Miller and Michelle Stracey on an overall time of 1:16:20. After three races, only 50 seconds stood between second and third place!
Again, thanks has to go Kemp Sails for adding all the touches to the event that made it a real complete weekend event rather than just some races.
Next year the regatta will be back with no shortage of ideas on how to make it a bigger and better weekend away for everyone attending.
Full results at goskipper.co.uk/results/swanage-sailing-club/swange-regatta-2021
No comments:
Post a Comment