Squibs at the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club June Regatta
by Chris Jordan 16 Jun 2025 11:20 PDT
14-15 June 2025
Squibs at the Royal Norfolk & Suffolk Yacht Club June Regatta © Bob Girling
A wonderful summer's day greeted the nine Squibs at RN&SYC (the UK's most Easterly Yacht Club) for the annual June Regatta weekend.
The wind was forecast to pick up to 30 knots during the afternoon, so two races were planned for the morning, back to back. There was a long beat out to the race area, which was outside the sandbanks, but the tide took us there, so we only needed a short postponement before we were off.
The Committee boat was at the port end of the line, with the starboard pin end heavily favoured. Most boats got to the best point on the line too early, and had to bear hard away down the line, leaving enough space for Croc (Chris and Gill Jordan) to gybe around for a second approach, and to make the best start and the best first beat. The 3/4 mile beat took under 8 minutes as the tide was under us and the wind was very steady blowing in from the south at about 10-12 knots. Down the (much longer) run, the fleet spread wide and Brimstone (Bryan and Jenny Riley) had the speed to just catch Croc and round the leeward mark on the inside - but leaving space for Croc to cross their transom immediately after the mark and power off up the beat back into the lead. Behind, the battle for 3rd was very intense, with all boats cross-tacking and no-one gaining anything.
After 3 laps, the order around the last leeward mark was Brimstone first, followed by Croc on the outside of Silver Fox (Jimmy Tubby and David Gale). Squffy (Veronica and Ben Falat) were equally overlapped with Echo (Gary Fuller and Richard Smith), and Clever Dick (Richard Sullivan and Sue Harper) rounded with Firebird (Simon Marfleet and Stef Oosthuysen). Bob Mann and Fergal O'Driscoll in State of the Harte managed to make one less mistake to get ahead of Chris and Sue Williams in Spring Maid. But there was still a short, true beat, to the finish line! Brimstone tacked early to cover the fast closing Silver Fox, allowing Croc a bit of freedom to pick their tacking point. Which resulted in Croc (shouting "starboard" in a very clear manner!) to just clear the committee boat and force Brimstone to duck - thus Silver Fox took 2nd, and Brimstone just crossed the line before Squffy appeared - after an hours racing, the top 4 boats all finished within 10 seconds.
The second race saw an increased wind, and tired legs by the end. The tide was still under us on the beat, resulting in an awkward chop upwind, and some great surfing down wind in the 18-20 knot gusts. The two quick boats this race were Echo on the beat and Brimstone down-wind. Croc squeezed into 3rd place right on the line, just ahead of Clever Dick who tried to tack and lee bow them at the last moment. Silver Fox dropped 3 places on the final beat after having to do a turn - something about needing new glasses to see the buoys!
The evening saw a great Commodore's Reception and Supper for 80 people, with guests from WOBYC, NBYC and GYGSC.
The wind gave a big contrast for the second day, with a much lighter, 8-9 knot offshore breeze from the west. With the port end of the line favoured by the wind, and the starboard end being more up-tide, the fleet were well spread down the line - but a general recall was needed before we were all on the correct side of the line! Firebird was using their normal Oulton Broad wind sniffing skills up the beat to take 3rd place, while Squffy was watching carefully as Brimstone sailed into a hole down wind so they could gybe off and take the lead - only to lose it again around the final leeward mark, only to grab it back again right on the finish line! Clever Dick was finding clever ways of going down the run in the sloppy conditions to take 4th place.
The final race saw the wind dropping away, with big shifts and holes, and long sloppy runs. The first lap, Brimstone and Squffy went all the way on port to the right, before a single tack into the mark to round first. While those that tried playing the shifts were left 100 yds behind. But the second beat saw exactly the opposite! All those that went right were floundering, while those playing the shifts gained 200 yards! The finishing order saw Brimstone (getting both beats correct), Clever Dick (getting the runs correct) and Croc (getting the second beat correct), followed by Silver Fox squeezing around the final mark inside Spring Maid and Firebird.
The final results were: Brimstone, Croc, Squffy (tied on points with), Clever Dick, Silver Fox, Echo, Firebird, Spring Maid and State of the Harte.
A superb weekend's racing, with the many volunteers and RIB crews from RN&SYC having a great couple of days on the water, with Owen Delaney acting as Race Officer providing us some superb racing and much needed practise for the National Championships next week.