Conditions were perfect for the East Anglian Cruising Club, who hosted a River Cruiser Class Open regatta, meaning all boats went out fully rigged to take advantage.
The first race was Pursuit Race, 14 boats setting off in 10 different starts.
The race followed its normal pattern, with the slower boats caught by the faster boats and some close manoeuvring at times. It was notable that Martlet, the first starter, stayed ahead of the fleet for nearly two rounds of the course. Zingara, helmed by Richie Dugdale, was the winner with Breeze second and Catspaw third.
The second race, on Sunday morning, was a timed two-and-a-half hour race round the buoys, boats starting in any order with two other boats, Pickle and Evergreen, joining proceedings. The race was won by Breeze (Colin Chettleburgh), with Sabrina II (John Holmes) second and Mystery (Matt Ford) third with overall elapsed times ranging from 00:51:15 to 1:11:07.
The third race was a traditional 'round the cans' race, starting and finishing at Thurne Mouth. Again, 14 boats started and finished with the first three places being Breeze, Mystery and Catspaw.
The Moth Salver was won by the Breeze team.
Saturday afternoon at Horning Sailing Club saw the introduction of new adult keelboat training sessions, followed by the Sundown series, whilst club racing and a Yeoman Open took place on Sunday.
In the Reedling fleet, Robert Hancock, sailing Siskin, pulled out a significant lead over Kevin Saunders, helming Cockatrice, in both morning races, whilst in the five-strong Rebel fleet Kim West took one win in Rebel, Kevin Edwards two in Rebel Maid. Edward Wildman won both dinghy races in his Laser, ahead of Ellie Edwards' Splash.
Experimenting with a new format, the Yeoman Open races were condensed into one day, with two back-to-back races and one afternoon race on Hoveton Little Broad. Roger Hannant sailing Firefly - and the only boat to fly a spinnaker - won the race, ahead of Geoff Stubbs' Tara in second, and Bob Barham-Brown's Amethyst in third. The second race once again saw Firefly take line honours, with Tara second and Toby Fields sailing Tanskey third. The final race saw Tara take the win, Firefly second and Tanskey third, meaning that the series was won overall by Roger Hannant crewed by Kathryn Pettit.
Norfolk Broads Yacht Club were happy to see a resurgence of interest in the Star Class locally, with a series of races for a Trophy last weekend on Wroxham Broad.
Nick Eastwood won the overall event, but notably with only the help of two of the youngest and least experienced beginners as crew, Dylan Bondi and Eleanor Barnes, neither in their teens - and neither had been on a Star before. It was a remarkable achievement in what is after all, one of the most technically demanding racing yachts. By contrast at the other end of the scale, was one of the simplest of yachts, the Norfolk One Design, which held their class weekend. There is no technical advancement available on this most basic of clinker-built dinghies, that have been for the most part unaltered since they were first conceived in the early 1930s.
The weekend was won by Mike Collins crewed by his son, who were unbeaten. The lunchtime River Cruiser Class race saw a good turnout, as boats start to arrive in preparation for their first class weekend in less than two weeks. The race was won easily by No.369 Moonshadow.
Hickling Broad Sailing Club saw two days of a Leader class open event. Saturday was also Junior Race Day.
Malcolm Mellor again ran a series of races on the broad for the juniors and at mid-day PRO Tony Aldous started an upriver race for the more experienced to Potter Heigham. Six Lasers and one 470 finished just short of the road bridge; the return race was started in much windier conditions.
Will Symonds in Laser 213791 was second on the water upriver to the 470 but in a very fast return to the clubhouse in 50 minutes he pipped the 470 on the water and after handicap was declared first in both races. econd in both races was Sam Archer, third shared between Rose Ling and Emily Haslam.
Sunday was the more usual early summer race series in very mixed winds. Almost twenty-five boats started race one including the Leaders. The races were won by different boats and different sailors; John Parker's Punt in race one, James Letts Laser in two, Chris Larter's Solo in three and Mac Powell's Solo in four.
With only a week to go to their Class Championship, there was considerable interest in the Waveney races at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club.
Iris, helmed by Simon Marfleet on Saturday and Phil Large on Sunday, showed good speed with wins in the two class races and Saturday's Mixed Keelboats.
In Sunday's Mixed Keels she was first Waveney, beaten only by David Gooch and Denise Sinclair in the Squib Slinky. Several other Waveneys, however, also stand a good chance of doing well in the Championships. Geoff Little's Naiad had two seconds on Saturday while Speedwell (Alan Cone and Graham Reeve), Brandy Bottle (Chris Schonhut) and Creeping Jenny (Trevor and Jake Balls) had close battles with Iris in Sunday's races. In the dinghies, Alan Cone (Solo) and James Nourse (Laser) had a win each in Saturday's Fast Handicap races while Veronica Falat (Laser) won twice on Sunday. In the Slow Handicap, Geoff Ansdell (Laser 4.7) won Saturday's first race and the Wanderer sailed by Kyle Beamish the second.
Norfolk Broads Yacht Club hosted an Open Event for the Norfolk Dinghy Class in glorious conditions.
On Saturday the first race saw nine boats start the heavily port-biased line heading for number three buoy in the south west corner of the broad followed by a long beat up to buoy number two in the north east.
Mike Collins, sailing B52 Periwinkle and crewed by Edward Collins, made the best start and increased his lead throughout the race to finish first after the race was shortened from five to three rounds. By contrast, David Yapp in B50 Dodman and crewed by Julia Deary started last, but came through the fleet to finish second. In third was Geoff Coulthard sailing B71 Wild Duck crewed by John Cox.
The second race was for the crews and four boats came to the line. Olivia Hovey, helming B59 Tideway and crewed by her sister Sarah, won the race after a great competition involving several place changes with the second-placed boat, helmed by Rafi Collins in B52 Periwinkle crewed by twin brother Edward and father Mike.
On Sunday, with a change of course and a starting line with distance marks close to the clubhouse, eight boats started the race as a beat in a north easterly direction for buoy number two. There were three races during the day and in all three Mike Collins, crewed first by Rafi and then by Edward, made the best starts and went on to win. David Yapp held second position in the first and second races. Third places were shared between Pat Woodcock crewed by Jan Hubbard in B61 Echo and Geoff Coulthard crewed by John Cox in B71 Wild Duck.
In the final race it looked like Yapp was again to take second but on the first run back he was passed by Woodcock and Coulthard who went on to have an extremely competitive race which finished with Woodcock crossing the line fractionally ahead of Coulthard.
At the prize-giving at the end of the day Mike Collins took the Yare Challenge Trophy for the weekend series, the Clementi-Smith Trophy for winning the first race and the Yare Sailing Club Spoons being the highest placed helm who had not won the Yare Trophy before.
With only a week to go to their Class Championship, there was considerable interest in the Waveney races at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club.
Iris, helmed by Simon Marfleet on Saturday and Phil Large on Sunday, showed good speed with wins in the two class races and Saturday's Mixed Keelboats.
In Sunday's Mixed Keels she was first Waveney, beaten only by David Gooch and Denise Sinclair in the Squib Slinky. Several other Waveneys, however, also stand a good chance of doing well in the Championships. Geoff Little's Naiad had two seconds on Saturday while Speedwell (Alan Cone and Graham Reeve), Brandy Bottle (Chris Schonhut) and Creeping Jenny (Trevor and Jake Balls) had close battles with Iris in Sunday's races. In the dinghies, Alan Cone (Solo) and James Nourse (Laser) had a win each in Saturday's Fast Handicap races while Veronica Falat (Laser) won twice on Sunday. In the Slow Handicap, Geoff Ansdell (Laser 4.7) won Saturday's first race and the Wanderer sailed by Kyle Beamish the second.
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