Cherubs at the Filey Regatta

Two Cherubs made the trip to Filey Regatta at Filey Sailing Club with the promise of sun, sea, sand and a nice rolling North Sea swell. How wrong could we have been? Torrential rain Friday, and drizzle Saturday morning made the journey and rigging a less than ideal proposition. At least the rolling swell was there.

Saturday dawned with a light drizzle every now and then. Having to wait for the tide to go out enough to get boats onto the beach made for slightly rushed rigging, both boats seen being almost last leaving the beach and discovering on the reach to the race course that neither had rigged their kites correctly. At least it was a light wind, allowing for errors to be addressed. Competition in the mixed handicap fleet was close, and the tide made for some interesting moments with King Tubby showing a clean pair of heals to Nautilus Pompilious for most of the day, even when the wind died on the run in race 2 making it very hard to beat the tide even under 3 sails.

Cherubs at the Filey Regatta - photo © Roger Nunn

Smiles all round and then off out for dinner at The Boat Shed for the promise of Pizza, Gin and Cocktails, followed by photos with the lobster on the crazy golf course. Eventually the sailing club evicted us from their bar so they could get some sleep before the early start on Sunday.

What a difference a day makes. Warm, sunny and 15 knots, kicking up a one metre swell; challenging times lay ahead for the boats. The entire fleet was favouring the inshore side of the beat to hide from the big waves further out. King Tubby was again showing Nautilus Pompilious a clean pair of heals, despite the difficulties of the spinnaker halyard cleat having had enough and the use of a quick release knot to keep the sail up. Powering upwind was fun, if a little tricky the further out you got, but the downwind, what more can be said except big speed and even bigger smiles despite a couple of close calls with RS400s gybing without looking first.

Cherubs at the Filey Regatta - photo © Roger Nunn

All in all a brilliant weekend's sailing. Thanks to the club for hosting the event, and thanks to the shore crew for helping with recovering the boats of tired sailors. See you all next year.

Overall Results: