The biggest event at Wroxham this season saw the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club host their first River Cruiser Class weekend of the year.

Eastern Daily Press: Action from Norfolk Broads Yacht Club Picture: Trish MooreAction from Norfolk Broads Yacht Club Picture: Trish Moore (Image: Archant)

It was an excellent turn-out of 31 entries, containing some of the largest and fastest racing yachts to be seen anywhere on the Broads, and was sailed in challenging conditions with very light winds and rain on the Saturday leading to one race being abandoned, followed in contrast by a fresh wind on the Sunday.

The racing was split into slow and fast fleets with a trophy presented for the series winner of each, and won respectively by the two oldest boats there; Buttercup (1896) and Maidie (1904), with the latter being winner of the overall trophy for the weekend. This was the Coronation Trophy, a beautiful and historic old silver racing yacht originally presented back in 1902 to mark the accession to the throne of Edward VII. It was won in that year by the now all but forgotten racing cruiser Queen Mab, in design terms an immediate forerunner to Maidie.

With barely three weeks before commencement of Wroxham Week, there are two further major events in the two preceding weekends, with a Yare and Bure class weekend and a second cruiser weekend yet to come.

Eastern Daily Press: Action from Horning Sailing Club's Keelboat Weekend Picture: Holly HancockAction from Horning Sailing Club's Keelboat Weekend Picture: Holly Hancock (Image: Archant)

Horning Sailing Club experienced contrasting days at their Keelboat weekend held on both the River and Broad.

Despite a predicted moderate breeze on Saturday, the afternoon's racing saw very light winds bordering on non-existent, meaning the race was little more than a drift in drizzly conditions, competitors being taken up the river on the tide, and facing a struggle to make progress against it back to the clubhouse. The dropping wind and increasing tide meant the OOD finished racing up the river, and the second race and afternoon's planned Pursuit race were postponed.

Sunday morning saw warm sunshine, and races on Hoveton Little Broad were subject to extremely fluky winds which varied in both direction and strength, proving a challenge for competitors, and making racing very close.

For the afternoon series the winds picked up to be quite strong and gusty at times. In the Reedling fleet, Robert Hancock, sailing Siskin, made it four wins out of five to take the class honours, ahead of Roger and James Pettit in Osiris, whilst Geoff Stubbs, sailing Tara, won the Yeomans with three wins out of four, the remaining win and second overall going to Toby Fields in Tanskey. Although four raced on the water, the only Rebel that sailed both days to qualify for the weekend was Lucky Rebel, helmed by Alex Humphries, Gary Wright and Adrian Hammond. The strongest fleet of the weekend was the Yare & Bures, with eight on the water. First overall with two firsts and two seconds was Ron Jackson, sailing Holly Blue. Second overall was David Means in Painted Jezebel.

Eastern Daily Press: Action from Horning Sailing Club's Keelboat Weekend Picture: Holly HancockAction from Horning Sailing Club's Keelboat Weekend Picture: Holly Hancock (Image: Archant)

Looking ahead, HSC is hosting two Try Sailing events for the next two weeks - with this Saturday aimed at female participation, and the July 20 event open to all. Both sessions run from 1.30pm-3.30pm and cost £5 per person to take part.

Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club's Summer Weekend Regatta was sailed in rather miserable conditions on Saturday with rain and light wind, but things improved on Sunday with bright sunshine and a total of 32 boats took part.

The biggest fleet was the Fast Handicap which saw Duncan Madin winning the series in his brand-new RS Aero 9. Veronica Falat was second in her Streaker with husband Ben third in his Phantom. Duncan's son George was the winner of the Slow Handicap dinghies.

Eastern Daily Press: Action from the Summer Weekend Regatta at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club Picture: Karen LangstonAction from the Summer Weekend Regatta at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club Picture: Karen Langston (Image: Archant)

In the Broads One Designs, Guy Foulger and Neil Quantrill in Peewit won three of the four races and so were first overall, with Joe and Annabelle Drake second in Warbler. Chris Schonhut and Jake Balls in Brandy Bottle were even more consistent in the Waveney class, winning all four races, with Iris, helmed by Simon Marfleet on Saturday and Phil Large on Sunday, second.

The Squib results were much closer with a different winner for each race. Denise Sinclair and David Gooch, in Slinky, were the overall winners while three boats tied on points for second, the tie-break going in favour of Richard Smith and Andrea Prime in Flame.

On Sunday afternoon there was an all-comers handicap race for the David Hannant trophy. It was disappointing that only 10 boats took part but the race was very competitive and sailed in the strongest wind of the weekend, causing a few capsizes. The Oulton Rater Catastrophe, sailed by Jordan Levett and Kyle Beamish, made the best start and led for over a lap before being overtaken by Ben Falat's Phantom. James Nourse's Laser pulled ahead of the next bunch and behind him there was a very close battle between Peewit and Slinky, the only keelboats in the race, plus Veronica Falat's Streaker and Pete Matthews' Solo. Eventually Ben Falat crossed the finishing line first and so won the Calver Cup for fastest boat and the David Hannant Trophy for the win on handicap, while Catastrophe was second overall and Slinky third.

Eastern Daily Press: Action from the Summer Weekend Regatta at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club Picture: Karen LangstonAction from the Summer Weekend Regatta at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club Picture: Karen Langston (Image: Archant)

It was another lovely sunny day at Great Yarmouth & Gorleston SC for Act 4 of the Summer series.

Eleven boats took to the water for what was going to be a challenging day for the hiking boats.

With the F2-3 wind from the NE and a strong flood tide it was easy to choose your route upwind, stick to the shore for as long as possible! Choosing at what point to head off shore to the windward mark proved crucial, venturing out too early would mean a costly long tack against the tide.

David Brief (Shadow-X) quickly took the lead in race one, opening up a big gap on the rest of the fleet. Chris Sallis and Matt Frary (Tasar) led the rest of the fleet showing great upwind speed which bodes well for their World Championship at Hayling Island later this month. Sam Briggs and Chris Haslam (29ER) sailed a good second lap to cross the line second. On corrected time Sallis and Frary took the win with Brief second.

Eastern Daily Press: Action from the Summer Weekend Regatta at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club Picture: Karen LangstonAction from the Summer Weekend Regatta at Waveney & Oulton Broad Yacht Club Picture: Karen Langston (Image: Archant)

By the start of race two the wind increased to a F3-4. The Shadow-X had another lonely sail, eventually lapping a few boats and completing an extra lap.

The RS400s of Dave Houghton and John Symonds and Richard Brown and Robyn Ollington led the rest of the fleet on the first lap with just a few seconds between them. Further back, Steve Whitby, sailing a Minisail, the slowest boat on the water by some margin, was showing great tenacity on the long beats. His efforts, however, were to be rewarded with a win on corrected time with Houghton and Symonds second.

Although race three started some time after the forecasted high water the flood tide was still flowing.

The long beats had taken their toll with a few boats returning to shore. Brief once again opened up a good lead on the fleet. Houghton and Symonds and Briggs and Haslam enjoyed a close battle for the first two laps with the latter opening up a gap on the final lap to cross the line second. Just behind, Brown andOllington were fighting it out with Nick Favell (D-0ne). On corrected time Houghton and Symonds just pipped Briggs & Haslam for the race win.