156th Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club Annual Regatta - Overall
by Adam Saltonstall 13 Aug 2013 08:24 BST
3-10 August 2013
156 years and still going strong!
During the week beginning 3rd August, The Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club held its annual regatta, an event now in its 156th year and proving as popular as ever for sailors in the local area. Racing was held for around 90 competitors in 24 boats across 4 classes, all making the most of the fantastic conditions presented to them in one of the best bays in the country. With a hectic schedule of races and social events, the regatta followed a historic tradition with the Commodore and his fellow flag officers casting their eye over the boats in the fleet review. Early honours went to Kir Royale (Steve Cairns) for the best turned out sailboat and Dawnbreaker (Geoff Gibson) for the best turned out powerboat.
The cruiser class is an open class for all boats to enter who do not fit into a one-design which is already set up. Boats ranging from a 20-foot sports boat, a Lazer SB3, up to a 33-foot cruising boat, a Jeanneau 33i, raced to handicapped times to compete in this class. This class included visitors from Humber Yawl YC and Grimsby YC. However it was local boat Starchick, owned and raced by Mike Kaye & Bob Wallace, along with the team of crew, who claimed the majority of the race wins over the week, with 8 wins from 11 races. Aquaholic managed to claim 1 win in their debut regatta whilst Sundance won the remaining 2 races, owned and raced by Gary & Corrine Kaye. Starchick's final win of the week came in the coastal race to Filey and back, a race which they won by a mere 6 seconds from Aquaholic after corrected time. For their outstanding performance over the week, Starchick also won the coveted Commodore's Rose Bowl for achieving the best ratio of wins from their races.
The National Squib is a 46-year-old class of boats which has been present at RYYC regattas for a little under 40 years. Over recent years unfortunately, numbers have decreased gradually, leaving only 4 boats on the water for this year's event. Racing was competed mainly between Porkers, sailed by Tony Saltonstall & Neil Orum, and Ghost, Gerard Dyson & Adam Saltonstall. Tim & Lynne Jones' Threadbare and Derek Higgins & Sean Clarkson's Kaizen provided a further challenge for the week. Porkers and Ghost shared the wins over the course of the week, with Ghost claiming 7 wins to Porkers' 6 out of the 13 races. This was just enough for Ghost to claim the title for the week whilst, due to the order of the race wins, Porkers was crowned the North of England Champions for the first half of the week.
The Contessa 26 class is relatively new class to the club, having only sailed at RYYC for around 10 years, even though they too were first designed in the 1960s. In this class, racing looked like it could be a one-sided affair to Daisy Dog, helmed and owned by Steve Travis with his son and joint-owner Kevin amongst the crew. Daisy Dog took four 1sts and one 2nd in the first 5 races. However, a change in form halfway through the week brought Contessa Juliet, owned and helmed by Vice Commodore Jeff Preece to the top of the leader board with four 1sts and four 2nds in 10 races. This took the over title down to the last race of the week, a coastal to FIley Brigg boy and back. By the end of the day it was Daisy Dog who took the final race win and claimed the title for the week.
The fourth class of boats, the Yorkshire One Design, is one of the oldest classes still competing actively in weekly racing in the country. This wooden keelboat has raced as a class exclusively in Bridlington Bay at the RYYC for 116 years, with some of the fleet originally being raced by the founding members of the RYYC as it stands today. Quite fittingly, it was Y1 and Y2, Blackie (Tim RIx & Mark Eggleston) and Mona (Crispin Blyth and Leslie Jordan) who came 1st and 2nd at the end of the week, with Mona seeing off stiff competition from Y6, Iolanthe (Neil Paveley) on count-back with a higher number of 1st places over the week.
As usual, a superb event enjoyed by the whole club and their visiting friends from kindred clubs down the coast. A big thank you to returning race officer Peter Crooks and his team of helpers for organising the daily racing. Similarly, a huge thank you to the event's major sponsors, EYEvents and KPMG. Anyone interested in getting into sailing or joining the club should take a look at the club website, www.ryyc.org.uk, or phone the club office on 01262 672041.