PY2 was won by regular Wednesday night sailors, RDYC members David and Nicky Bomby in their Dufour 35, Meyia and PY3 by Topsham Sailing Club’s Martyn Grant in Xante who hasn’t missed a regatta in twenty years.
In the Sportsboat section there was disappointment for local youth team in Team Baltic who, although they were the first J80 boat, lost by just one point in the series to brand new J70, Jenga 8, the only J70 in Europe. “It’s a brand new design and seems to be very fast,” Torquay Yacht Club member Julian Cook told me. “We only picked it up on Wednesday and unfortunately it’s going back tomorrow!” Herbie Harford,16, the youngest crew member on board told me he thought the speed was due to the lightness of the boat, the carbon rigging and its ability to plane.
The J109 class was a closely contested event eventually won by Paul Griffiths in Jagerbomb. Only 5 points behind was Liam Shanahan in Ruth from the National Yacht Club of Dublin in Dunleary. This was his first time in Dartmouth and he couldn’t praise it enough. “The sailing has been extraordinarily good and more important everything else has been fantastic: to come back in after a day’s sailing and see the Red Arrows – amazing. This event is beyond comparison. We’ll be back and I’m going to encourage everyone to come here to take part.”
The small cruiser series was won by Mark Jenkins in Roobarb, the winning Gaffer was Step Back in Time and RDYC’s VernonTaylor won the White Sail Race in Splash.
There were twelve Squibs racing, all from the RDYC and first place went to Mike Mackie and Roger Nuttal in Tearaway. Only 1 point behind were Peter Johnson and Henry Bower,18, in Atom. They helped out fellow competitors Lucy,18, and Sophie Casseldine,15, in Baby Hippo in Sunday’s racing. “Our gib halyard broke so we had to attach the spinnaker halyard to the jib and go downwind without a spinnaker,” the girls told me. “Later we took down the jib and put up the spinnaker.” They still managed to finish 7th overall thanks to their skill and determination.
"Maxine and Jerry Round-Smith won the cup for the best RDYC boat in the IRC class in their J92, Jalabeano . "It was a really competitive fleet," their daughter Katie told me."But we had an amazing four day's sailing."
Dart Sailablity’s Sonar of Dart won the PY Keelboat class. Robert Boyd has competed in Regatta every year for the last seven years. Last year there was an incident where the boat upturned in heavy weather but nothing will keep Robert from sailing in Regatta and he was full of praise for the volunteers at Dart Sailability.
Another local boat won the Devon Yawl series: Michael Bennett’s Two’s Company from Dittisham Sailing Club.