Llandegfedd Sailing Club 50th Anniversary Regatta

Glorious sunshine for Llandegfedd SC 50th Anniversary Regatta © Robert Cone

Foamcrest dinghy at Llandegfedd (most boats were built from plywood at home in the 1970s) © LSC

Sponsored by Kingstone Breweries

July 21 and 22 were scheduled for the regatta, but the weather gods had other ideas. There was absolutely no wind on Saturday, so the fleet sat drinking tea and putting the work to rights. There were some interesting boats to look at, including an International 14 from 1946, older than all of the competitors. The evening saw a celebratory dinner in the Llandegfedd Visitor Centre which is a lovely venue on a sunny summers evening. We also drank excellent Celebration Ale from Kingstone Brewery in Tintern, our sponsor.

Sunday started of very hot and sunny, with a postponement. Just as we were despairing, a light wind struck up from the South, and we all rushed out for a sail. Two competitive and intriguing races were held in the shifty holey wind, with a lot of place shifting and occasional excitements in stronger gusts. Jeff Titmus, having moved to an RS Vareo only this year, was way towards the front and a long way ahead of the other Vareos. Dave Timson in his International Canoe cleaned up and was three minutes ahead on corrected time. Ian and Ben Fryatt (RS 500) were just leading Merrick and Simon Stanley (RS400) around, and so beat them on the corrected handicap times.

After the course had been moved through 45 degrees by PRO Neil Sharratt, Jeff Titmus was powering to the front, but was beaten by Mark Williams (RS100). Lightweight wind specialist Gareth Edwards was third in another Vareo a few seconds behind, followed by another Vareo, Jeremy Symons picking up speed after an earlier refreshing swim.

Yousef Al Abkul won the Youth prize, (Laser Radial), followed by Alicia Biggs (Topper). Angus Whitehead (Laser) and George Biggs (Topper) followed. The "boat over 50 prize" went to Junior sailor Rhys Powell, crewed by father Ian in a Foamcrest.

The club is now looking forwards to the next 50 years – and is working through some ideas to bring us fully up to date to meet the modern challenges.

www.llandegfedd.org.uk

Top Three Results: