Lymington Dinghy Regatta 2023
by Heather Chipperfield 14 Aug 06:22 PDT
12-13 August 2023
The Lymington Dinghy Regatta, hosted jointly by the Lymington Town Sailing Club and the Royal Lymington Yacht Club took place on the 12/13 August, proudly supported by local company Harken UK.
This event has developed in recent years to be a very popular opportunity for local sailors to race in bigger fleets of all the local classes against some high-quality visiting teams. Once again, we had over 100 boats pre-entered, despite a move from July into August for this year only.
Following this summer's trend, racing on Saturday was cancelled, as gusts of 30kts were recorded on the starting platform. The visitors took advantage of all the other delights Lymington has to offer and the day was rounded off with supper and lively bar games at Lymington Town Sailing Club.
An eager fleet of dinghies launched on Sunday into sunshine and high winds. The boats sailed on 2 race courses, with a huge array of fleets as well as handicap starts for the those in smaller fleets. The event included the Lightning Sea Championship and the RS400, RS700 & RS800 Rooster National Tour Events. All 8 fleets were greeted by a bubbling Solent, with wind-against-tide conditions giving absolutely brutal conditions. The safety teams were kept very busy, with many boats capsizing several times even before the first start.
Of the 160 competitors, over half were visitors as the LDR has become an important date in sailors' calendars. The army of more than 70 volunteers from both clubs ensured a seamless and extremely enjoyable time was had by all.
Amongst the locals were many prize winners, including Luke & Emma McEwen, 2nd RS800; Liam & Julie Willis and Steve Broomfield & Jenni Lewis, 2nd & 4th RS400; Tim Hire and Abby Hire, 2nd & 4th RS Aero; Will Homewood & Tig Williams 2nd Fast Handicap; Emma Breese and Duncan Ward, 2nd and 3rd Medium Handicap and Mark Jenkins and Maria Claridge, 2nd & 4th Slow Handicap, with Maria also winning the Lightning 368 class.
Full results are at rlymyc.org.uk/afloat/Racing/lymington-dinghy-regatta