Weston Regatta

The Weston regatta took place over the August bank holiday weekend with six races being held over the three days. The camping field was available for the whole weekend and the club barbecue was available for participants to cook their meals. 42 boats participated in the racing with a number of others taking the opportunity to sail in a variety of conditions but mainly in north westerly and westerly winds. Rather than define which boats sailed in which classes, the classes were defined by the types of courses to be set and participants chose the class they wished to race in.

The classes were defined as long windward/leeward; short windward/leeward; long other; and short other. As there were six races and two discards participants were able to try sailing in more than one class over the weekend. Interestingly the Dart 18 and the Unicorn elected to sail with the large other class which had a strong Contender contingent; whilst the Laser EPS chose to sail in the short other class where closer racing was to be had with the Albacore.

Winners were: Rob Forester, Shadow X (long windward/leeward;
Gail Pussard and Julie Dixon, RS200 (short windward/leeward);
Robert Angus, Contender (long other);
A Green/Peter Ruff (sharing the boat), Europe (short other).

Since there was no requirement to sail in a particular class, novices in faster boats were able to elect to sail shorter courses. The length of the courses did not affect the length of the race as all races were of about one hour’s duration, faster boats sailing more laps and results being determined on the average laps basis. All starts were of the club line which is close to the slipway and provides excellent viewing from the adjacent clubhouse. All courses were wholly visible from the clubhouse enabling spectators and supporters to have shelter and follow the racing in comfort from the bar. The very young were able to take advantage of the latest additions to the clubs ride-on toys with a colouring competition and face painting also on offer.