J24 Regatta at the Royal Dart Yacht Club

J24 Regatta at Dartmouth © Sam Marshall

J24 Regatta at Dartmouth © Sam Marshall

Like many other classes, the J24 season has officially started with the first regatta of the year held by the Royal Dart Yacht Club in Dartmouth on 22 and 23 April 2022. Two local boats, Jiggy and Mojo were joined by five visiting boats and the fleet enjoyed two days of close racing.

The fleet awoke on Saturday morning to a lingering easterly breeze which caused some trepidation among the sailors in the fleet with memories of a particularly interesting regatta a few years earlier where most boats experienced some sea sickness, including the mark laying rib. With sea sickness medication and ginger sweets on board, the fleet headed out to Start Bay for 4 races. The RO, Steve Pocock and team, set out the race course and sent the fleet on their way.

There is always one boat that likes to push the line and in race 1, NJO2 decided to pull the trigger early and had to go back after the individual recall flag was raised. Mike Mackie sailing Jiggy showed the visitors how it was done and won race 1 from Roger Morris on Jolly Roger with Sam Marshall's Wijit in third.

Race 2 saw Roger Morris taking the win from Mark Lewers on DanJerous When Wet in second and Dave Cooper on Jawbreaker in third. Race 3 of the day saw more boats keen to cross the line with Jawbreaker and Jiggy piling in at the committee boat end. Jawbreaker went around the committee boat to start but after going back to dip for the line, Jiggy made contact with the committee boat and found themselves having to do spins. Wijit secured the win in Race 3 with Jolly Roger in second and Jawbreaker in third.

Race 4 saw Jiggy returning to winning form with Jolly Roger in second and Danjerous When Wet in third. This left Jolly Roger at the top of the leaderboard overnight.

The four races of the day were completed efficiently as I'm sure the race team were pleased to be back on dry land after sitting on a very lumpy sea. Ever the efficient race team, the fleet were back on the dock just before it started to rain.

After enjoying the hospitality of the Royal Dart Yacht Club, the teams assembled on Sunday morning for a further two races. However, whilst the previous days swell had subsided, so had the wind but there was only a short postponement while the fleet waited for the wind to fill in.

A steady northerly breeze settled across the race track and Race 5 got under way. Local tidal knowledge gave Jiggy the win in race 5 with NJO2 in second and Jawbreaker in third. The final race saw Danjerous When Wet take the far left hand side of the course, a brave move which paid and saw them leading at the windward mark followed by Jawbreaker in second and Jolly Roger in third.

Again, the RO had the fleet ashore before the rain started but the fleet then found themselves packing up in a rain shower which typically finished just as the boats were all tied down on their trailers. Many thanks go to the Royal Dart Yacht Club and Mike Mackie for organising a great regatta and to Steve Pocock and his team for getting some great racing in over the weekend.

J24 Regatta at Dartmouth - photo © Lorna Graham

Congratulations to team Jolly Roger for winning the regatta. The fleet are looking forward to some close racing this year ahead of the qualification year for the World Championships which are to be held in Plymouth in 2025. It was also great to see new team Mojo joining the fleet on the race course.

Overall Results: