168th Royal Dartmouth Regatta at the Royal Dart Yacht Club
by Susan Swan 3 Sep 2012 16:25 BST
27 August - 1 September 2012
168th Royal Dartmouth Regatta © photos4sail.com
The 168th Sailing Week organised by the Joint Regatta Sailing Committee (JRSC) and hosted by the Royal Dart Yacht Club (RDYC) in Kingswear enjoyed some fantastic sailing conditions on all three courses out in Start Bay. At Sunday's prizegiving, RDYC Commodore, Diana Dewing, praised the work of the race officers, protest committee, the racing committee, the secretaries, the catering team and all the volunteers who made the Regatta such a memorable and successful event and thanked the sponsors.
Sponsorship this year was generously donated by Henri Lloyd, Bolle, Mount Gay Rum, Noss Marina, Baltic Wharf, Darthaven Marina, Paul Barclay Designs, Chandlery.co.uk, Spinlock, Roach Carpenters, Carlsberg, Thatchers, Atlantic Spars/Pedro, Stags, Towergate Mardon, Ravenspring and Sperry Top-Sider.
JRCS Chairman, Don Campbell, was delighted that the event had gone so smoothly. Competitors were full of praise for the JRSC and the RDYC for their organisation of the event.
"We've never been to Dartmouth Regatta before and it is fantastic – we'll definitely be back, we've had a ball," said Michael Bartholemew, owner of King 40 Tokoloshe the winner of IRC1 who came further than anyone to take part in Regatta – from Cape Town, South Africa.
The view was echoed by Michael Holmes, the winner of IRC2 in Hamble-based J97 Jika Jika who said he preferred Dartmouth week to Cowes. "We like the nature of the racing in Dartmouth - the race officer sets really good courses."
Brixham-based Michelle and Matt Dodd won IRC 3 in Hunter Impala, Fearnought. Michelle's son, Jesse, 13, sailed over in the Passage Race on Wednesday which saw the strongest winds of the week. "That was enough for him," said Michelle, "he hasn't raced since but we've had a great week."
There were a lot of youngsters sailing in Regatta this year. Exhibitionist from Exe Yacht Club which came second in PY1 had three crew members of 15,15 and 16 sailing with skipper Richard Geare. His son, Josh, 14, had an eventful few days. "I started sailing on Nemesis in IRC3 for the first two days but we had a collision so I ended up on a J80 on Saturday and an X412 on Sunday." PY1 was won by Charles Quartley in Impi.
PY2 was won by regular Wednesday night sailors, RDYC members David and Nicky Bomby in their Dufour 35, Meyia and PY3 by Topsham Sailing Club's Martyn Grant in Xante who hasn't missed a regatta in twenty years.
In the Sportsboat section there was disappointment for local youth team in Team Baltic who, although they were the first J80 boat, lost by just one point in the series to brand new J70, Jenga 8, the only J70 in Europe. "It's a brand new design and seems to be very fast," Torquay Yacht Club member Julian Cook told me. "We only picked it up on Wednesday and unfortunately it's going back tomorrow!" Herbie Harford, 16, the youngest crew member on board told me he thought the speed was due to the lightness of the boat, the carbon rigging and its ability to plane.
The J109 class was a closely contested event eventually won by Paul Griffiths in Jagerbomb. Only 5 points behind was Liam Shanahan in Ruth from the National Yacht Club of Dublin in Dunleary. This was his first time in Dartmouth and he couldn't praise it enough. "The sailing has been extraordinarily good and more important everything else has been fantastic: to come back in after a day's sailing and see the Red Arrows – amazing. This event is beyond comparison. We'll be back and I'm going to encourage everyone to come here to take part."
The small cruiser series was won by Mark Jenkins in Roobarb, the winning Gaffer was Step Back in Time and RDYC's Vernon Taylor won the White Sail Race in Splash.
There were twelve Squibs racing, all from the RDYC and first place went to Mike Mackie and Roger Nuttal in Tearaway. Only 1 point behind were Peter Johnson and Henry Bower, 18, in Atom. They helped out fellow competitors Lucy, 18, and Sophie Casseldine, 15, in Baby Hippo in Sunday's racing. "Our jib halyard broke so we had to attach the spinnaker halyard to the jib and go downwind without a spinnaker," the girls told me. "Later we took down the jib and put up the spinnaker." They still managed to finish 7th overall thanks to their skill and determination.
Dart Sailablity's Sonar of Dart won the PY Keelboat class. "We practice every Tuesday and Saturday," said Robert Boyd who has competed in Regatta every year for the last seven years. Last year there was an incident where the boat upturned in heavy weather but nothing will keep Robert from sailing in Regatta and he was full of praise for the volunteers at Dart Sailability.
Another local boat won the Devon Yawl series: Michael Bennett's Two's Company from Dittisham Sailing Club.
For a full round up of results visit:www.dartmouthweek.com/results