The Aldeburgh Regatta took place this year between 21st and 26th August with six days racing, rather than the usual five because the Aldeburgh Carnival had already taken place a week earlier.

The format was unchanged. Class racing in the morning, a convivial lunch, followed by largely handicap racing in the afternoon. Very relaxed and social. What is more the races almost always start at the scheduled time whatever the weather or wind direction.

Six Dragons took part, all of them local. The fleet divided between three at or near the front including the current BDA Vintage and Classic champions in Basilisk (Patrick Gifford) and Harkaway (Tim Hannon). The third in this group was Naiad (Mike Hayles) Panther(James Hunt), Inditine (Hugh Rich) and Nooka (Andrew Barlow) made up the chasing group with good, sometimes very close, racing between them.

The weather was mostly benign with winds of about Force 3 and rain only on the Thursday, though even then we were spared the worst deluges. There were quite big shifts as thermals asserted themselves through the day but it was only on the final day that the race was sailed for the first hour in a very erratic gradient versus thermal fight. Very testing for nerves and temper!

Most of the time Basilisk, very well crewed by Jonathan Penn and Martin Spall, seemed to have a slight edge in speed so that she won five of the six races. She lost the other (first) race in a grandstand finish under the club by about four feet having come from some distance back on a long run.

The opposite happened to Harkaway on the Wednesday, who had led Naiad all the way in a tussle for second place only to lose it by a similar margin. On two occasions Panther only narrowly prevailed over Nooka in similar finishes. Overall, Basilisk won from Naiad with Harkaway third.

In the personal handicap competition Harkaway won easily and it is clear that her rate of improvement has easily outstripped the handicapper’s efforts to keep up.

RESULTS

AYC Regatta Mornings 2022

Sailed: 6, Discards: 2, To count: 4, Rating system: PY, Entries: 6, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	HelmName	CrewName	PY	SUN 2022-08-21	MON 2022-08-22	TUES 2022-08-23	WEDS 2022-08-24	THURS 2022-08-25	FRI 2022-08-26	Total	Nett
1st	Dragon	Basilisk	Dragon	515	Patrick Gifford	Martin Spall, Andrew Jones, Jonathan Paul	1018	(2.0)	(1.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	7.0	4.0
2nd	Dragon	Naiad	Dragon	764	Mike Hayles	Chris Roberts	1018	1.0	(2.0)	2.0	2.0	(3.0)	2.0	12.0	7.0
3rd	Dragon	Harkaway	Dragon	151	Tim Hannon	Tom Chalker, Noah Di Paolo	1018	(3.0)	(3.0)	3.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	17.0	11.0
4th	Dragon	Panther	Dragon	581	James Hunt	Ed Hunt, Rob Jones	1018	(4.0)	(4.0)	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	24.0	16.0
5th	Dragon	Inditine	Dragon	64	Hugh Rich	Sarah Davies, Tammy Owens	1018	5.0	(6.0)	(6.0)	5.0	5.0	5.0	32.0	20.0
6th	Dragon	Nooka	Dragon	797	Andrew Barlow	Keith Ballintine	1018	(6.0)	5.0	5.0	(7.0 DNC)	6.0	6.0	35.0	22.0

AYC Regatta Loch Long & Dragon Personal Handicap 2022

Sailed: 6, Discards: 2, To count: 4, Rating system: PY, Entries: 6, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	Fleet	Boat	Class	SailNo	HelmName	PY	SUN 2022-08-21	MON 2022-08-22	TUES 2022-08-23	WEDS 2022-08-24	THURS 2022-08-25	FRI 2022-08-26	Total	Nett
1st	Dragon	Harkaway	D 151 Harkaway	151	Tim Hannon	933	(1.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	(2.0)	1.0	7.0	4.0
2nd	Dragon	Basilisk	D 515 Basilisk	515	Patrick Gifford	903	(4.0)	(2.0)	2.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	13.0	7.0
3rd	Dragon	Panther	D 581 Panther	581	James Hunt	952	2.0	(4.0)	(4.0)	4.0	3.0	3.0	20.0	12.0
4th	Dragon	Naiad	D 764 Naiad	764	Mike Hayles	905	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	(4.0)	(5.0)	21.0	12.0
5th	Dragon	Inditine	D 64 Inditine	64	Hugh Rich	955	(5.0)	5.0	(6.0)	5.0	5.0	4.0	30.0	19.0
6th	Dragon	Nooka	D797 Nooka	797	Andrew Barlow	933	(6.0)	6.0	5.0	(7.0 DNC)	6.0	6.0	36.0	23.0

• Report: Patrick Gifford
• Photos: Fleur Hayles

The 72nd British Dragon Nationals, the Edinburgh Cup follows on from the thrilling racing of the Scottish Dragon Championships on the Firth of Forth, Edinburgh.

This year’s event is hosted by Granton Harbour’s Royal Forth Yacht Club who previously held the Edinburgh Cup in 1997. Between 1964 and 1997 Royal Forth sailors won the Edinburgh Cup a memorable seven times.

One’s to watch out for

Coming off the back of winning the Dragon fleet at Cowes Week and putting in solid top two position-winning races leading into the Edinburgh Cup Graham Bailey and team sailing the iconic Bluebottle should not be overlooked.

Reigning Edinburgh Cup Champion Mike Budd is back with Harry, crew Mark Greaves and joined by Chris Brittain. Consistently appearing in the top six and a win in race three of the Scottish Championship secured the team third place overall. An encouraging place to be going into the Nationals.

There is a promising increase in female Dragon helms at this year’s event. Gavia Wilkinson-Cox, Cathy Ogden, Helen Horsfall and Mariangela Bonavita joining the Dragon line-up are also sailing for the Seagull Trophy, awarded to the first placed lady Corinthian helm.

Travelling North from Brussels Gery Trentesaux has bought his Dragon Bade a Part from La Baule to take part “I wanted to come here because it is a very important race in Great Britain and in memory of The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. I am a French Squadron member so for me it was important to come. Also because I like to discover new destinations, I like Scotland, it is a great pleasure to come here.”

Local Royal Forth Yacht Club sailor Peter Cook’s Meteor upset a few Dragons with an excellent finish in race four of the Scottish Championships “We have learnt a lot, its nice to see how the top boats do. We were thrilled on the first day that we came out 10th overall so to get a third in one of the races was even better.”

Tom Vernon’s South Coast Dragon Championship winning crew added another title to their CV’s by securing the Scottish Dragon Championship on day two. Tom is joined on Badger with previous Edinburgh Cup champion crew Adam Bowers and Ollie Spensley-Corfield. Can they together continue their winning streak to take the Edinburgh Cup?

The British Dragon Association and the Royal Forth Yacht Club are very grateful for the generous support of the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust, which has made this event possible.

Find all information, details and results from the Edinburgh Cup here >