Royal Yorkshire Regatta Overall

by Royal Yorkshire YC on 14 Aug 2011 The Royal Yorkshire Regatta was held between 6th and 13th August and was organised by the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club (RYYC).

The RYYC celebrated their 154th regatta this year with a week of high quality racing as Bridlington Bay provided its usual stunning scenary and changeable weather patterns, including North Easterly gusts of up to 35 knots and South Easterly breezes of only six knots! Peter Crooks acted as Principle Race Officer for the week, ably supported by his team, now known as ‘The Usual Suspects’!

B Class – PY Handicap Class
In the cruiser class 3 boats challenged for the trophies available. Hippie Chick was the only visitor for the class, having travelled down from Grimsby and showed that local knowledge wasn’t always needed as they claimed five wins from 10 races, including the coastal race to Filey and back on Friday. The RYYC’s Jumble won four of the remaining
races to finish second, with Halo taking the remaining win.

C Class – The National Squib Class
The Squib class saw excellent close racing throughout the week, with Neil Orum and Tony Saltonstall on board Perkers, Squib 12, and Gerard Dyson and Adam Saltonstall on board Ghost, Sq840, battling closely through all 11 races for the prizes on offer. Ghost however came out on top as they won 10 of the 11 races to not only win the overall series, but to also claim the North of England Championship which was included in the first half of the week. Threadbare, Sq772, caught the fleet by surprise to sneak a win in race 11 to prevent Ghost from claiming a clean sweep for the week.

D Class – Contessa 26s
In the Contessa class Steve Travis and his team aboard Daisy Dog took control from the beginning of the week, with nine wins from 10 races. This included Friday’s coastal race to Filey Bell Bouy, which they won by a clear 20 minutes after eight hours of racing! With this set of results there was no surprise that they won the series for the week, ahead of the
Rear-Commodore’s boat, Contessa Juliet, who took second place ahead of Constant in third, who were the only boat to take points off Daisy Dog throughout the week.

E Class – The YODs (The Gentlemen’s Class)
In the YOD class Tim & Robbie Rix and Mark Eggleston on Blackie, YOD 1, were keen to atone for last year’s runners-up spot and led from the front for the whole week having claimed nine wins from 11 races. With Yilt, YOD 5, under a ‘hired-helm’ they surprised many by claiming two first places and finishing second in the remaining nine races. John Rix’s team on Patience, Y16, showed that experience counts for a lot by claiming a well-earned third place in the week’s series.

In the overall prizes for the week, Daisy Dog claimed the Commodore’s Rose Bowl for the best performing yacht throughout the whole series, whilst Threadbare won the Norman Cooke Trophy for the ‘best presented yacht’. Martha Handley won the Simon Nettleton Trophy for the best performance by an RYYC cadet, as voted for by RYYC members.

Next year’s Regatta Week takes place from Saturday 11th August, all enquires should be made to the RYYC office on 01262 672041, or through the Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club website.