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