Minima Yacht Club's Regatta 2024
by John Forbes 3 Sep 12:41 PDT
Solos nearest camera are John Wilkey's (left) and Andy Banks, both from the home club - Minima Regatta 2024 © Eileen Barry
Minima Yacht Club's 2024 regatta was the best attended, just possibly simply the best, since 2012.
Ten days out we were looking at a very dull drift, but weather forecasts are unpredictable and in the event there was exciting sailing at Kingston on both the Saturday and Sunday.
Sailors from five local clubs, 27 boats, enjoyed challenging but fun river-sailing conditions in a gusty, shifty breeze, nominally from the north-east. The puffs might have made Force 5, but it was their unpredictable timing and direction which made them hard to deal with as the breeze swirled round the riverside flats. 16 capsizes set a competition record for this century.
In between, the sailing was fascinating, crews generally taking the leeward bank, but then being overtaken by bolder spirits chasing catspaws in the middle of the river, as the wind veered east or north. In between the fierce gusts there were plenty of holes, occasionally trapping even the best helms.
Saturday was grim and grey, but warm — the first day of autumn. Sunday: sunny - the last day of summer, and the wind died a little, so the more cautious characters ventured out. Of course the wind still had a few tricks to play. The Thames, your correspondent can vouch from personal experience, was suspiciously warm.
It was exhilarating and exhausting dealing with the flock of sailors, Ents sailing through the Laser pre-start (unavoidable despite careful timings by race officer Paul Bloomfield), the gusts and the rowers, SUP-ers, cruisers and river steamers. Twickenham Commodore James Lee said thanks: "It's the sign of a great regatta: we are absolutely bushed." He also said it was good to see the River Clubs working together - and there are opportunities to keep up this good work at Hampton and Tamesis this coming weekend.
The Lasers and Solos were the biggest classes, in line with the sadly individualist 21st Century trend, with eight boats apiece, although Solos came and went. Lasers dominated the capsize stats in many different ways: going over on the landing stage, blown two at a time onto the leeward Middlesex bank or majestically blasted sideways across the line with helms James Hamilton of Tamesis and Ed Cubitt of Minima swimming alongside, to appreciative cheers and the ting of the finishing bell.
The class was dominated by Tamesis visitors, with Tom Bull managing three firsts, against one apiece for last year's winner Henry Medcalf and Peter Impey. Minima's Keith Payne was not far behind.
In the Solos Twickenham's Nick Titley took four bullets, making it look easy as he does, with the home side's John Wilkey coming in second, despite a fleeting appearance from Tammy's Tim Medcalf, Henry's dad, who dropped in for a first and second on Sunday morning. Minima's Jon Fray, third, is steadily moving up the rankings.
The Enterprise feels like a bit of an endangered species nowadays, but we had seven entries, and some good racing enlivened by a couple of dunkings in the gustiest but most fun races on Saturday. Ed Mayley, James Lee and Robin Broomfield all took firsts, but Ed managed three to take the honours.
The lone Merlin of Paul Seamen found itself in the Portsmouth Yardstick fleet. He could only overcome the handicap advantage of Erica Bishop's nearly-new Topper 6.4 in a single race, when conditions allowed him and crew Pav Pavlov to fly the spinnaker.
Results (Minima unless stated):
Enterprise:
1 Ed Mayley, James Budden
2 Robin Broomfield, Anchalee Broomfield
Laser:
1 Tom Bull (Tamesis)
2 Henry Medcalf (Tamesis)
Solo:
1 Nick Titley (Twickenham)
2 John Wilkey
Portsmouth Yardstick:
1 Erica Bishop
2 Paul Seamen, Pav Pavlov
New Sailors:
Gavin Barkley