BYC Yacht Regatta Report

'Riviera Rum' BYC Yacht Regatta

The weekend of the 24/25th July saw the annual BYC Yacht Regatta take place, this year sponsored by Riviera Rum.

The Regatta comprised two days of racing but preceded by a 'fun' pursuit race on the Friday evening, the result of which is below. With the wind getting up to 30 knot gusts and some boats still holding spinnakers, the 'fun' element rapidly disappeared for the few boats that took part and the 'excitement' was curtailed 15 minutes earlier than planned for safety.

The serious competition started on Saturday afternoon for the 9 boats taking part, with the first of two races held in near perfect sailing conditions ranging from 6 to 14 knots. Each race was designed to last up to 80 minutes by visiting Race Officer Steve Pocock operating from committee boat "Mary Flora". All boats sailed under the SWYTC rating system with insufficient IRC entries.

Line honours in a hotly-contested Race 1 went to "Perfect Match" just ahead of a cluster of three other boats, but when the handicaps were applied it was "Ocean Wave" who converted her 4th place over the water into a clear race victory over "Glance" and "Roobarb".

Race 2 once again had "Perfect Match" right at the front but she was sensationally pipped by "Ocean Wave" on the line with a margin of just 4 seconds. "Glance" was able to use her handicap advantage to finish n second ahead of "Peanut" on corrected time despite following her over the line.

Sailors retired to the comfort of the Yacht Club for a well deserved meal and plenty of free rum on offer from sponsors Riviera Rum.

Sunday's racing consisted of two shorter races in the morning sandwiching a longer middle race as the sailors did their best to recover from their rum-induced hangovers from the night before! Also, an extra couple of boats were able to take part.

Once again it was "Perfect Match" taking advantage of her water-line length to set the pace out front by more than three minutes with "Peanut", "Glance" and "Ocean Wave" separated by a minute behind her. It was "Ocean Wave" who inevitably converted her rapid pace into victory once her corrected time was further enhanced by her favourable handicap.

The promising wind conditions fell away during Race 4, with "Orcrist" and "Pocket Battleship" particularly badly hit and unable to finish within the time limit and 26 minutes separating leader "Peanut" from "Rascal" being the last to finish. "Peanut"'s margin over the water was still insufficient to defeat "Ocean "Wave" who took her fourth straight win by over 4 minutes.

With lack of wind still affecting the course, Race 5 again saw the same two boats as Race 4 fail to finish. "Perfect Match" led the way in just over 39 minutes but "Rascal" struggled to the line in 68 minutes having had a starboard 'coming together' with "A Piano" on port tack. There was no denying "Ocean Wave", however, as she took a clean sweep of wins and secure the Regatta Trophy.

"Peanut" were declared second overall despite finishing on the same points total as "Glance", the positions being decided on the result of the last race with just an 8 second margin separating them.

A special 'perseverance' award went to "Rascal" who amassed the most points of any boat that managed to complete all five races.

Full Results can be found on the website