The Yare Sailing Club opened their Autumn Regatta at Cantley with a race for helms under 30 – a new venture and with a new trophy to be won, the Jenner Trophy.

Eastern Daily Press: Catspaw at the Yare Sailing Club's Autumn Regatta. Picture: Margaret KilnerCatspaw at the Yare Sailing Club's Autumn Regatta. Picture: Margaret Kilner (Image: Archant)

Six yachts took part, three of them helmed by novices, with the youngest, Emily Hughes, aged only nine. A closely-fought race saw James Dugdale on Maidie win this inaugural event by just 20 seconds from his arch-rival, Tom Heaffey on Melinda.

The regatta proper began with the pursuit race in the afternoon. The tide clearly had an effect here, with the earlier-starting, slower boats soon being caught up and overtaken by the middle of the fleet, who were themselves then overtaken by the faster yachts during a long beating reach past the factory.

Having rounded the bottom mark, the fleet then bunched again on the run back upriver, before the stretch back up Cantley Reach shook up the order once again. Maidie, starting last, could not make up her time, but the second fastest yachts, Melinda and Zingara did, coming in second and first respectively.

A short race around the buoys on Sunday morning was most noted for the challenges of the top gybe mark, with some tricky moments as running yachts approached those tacking away from the buoy against the tide. John Holmes on Sabrina 2 had the best of it, coming out a comfortable winner from the closely-matched Catspaw and Sally in second and third places.

The peripatetic trophy, the sought-after Crystal Ball, was on offer for the winner of the afternoon race, which was a lengthy course upriver past Langley, round a loop and then back down to Hardley before returning to finish. In the brisk wind, this was hard work for the crews, as well as presenting a challenge to round the top mark, which had been placed in the shelter of some trees.

The real battle was in the last start, where the rivalry between Adrian Lincoln on Pixie and Steve Burton on Sally was played out, resulting in a 38-second win for the latter, thereby not only winning Steve the race, but also the overall trophy for the weekend, the Crystal Ball and the Diamond Jubilee Trophy for the completion of a season-long series.