Aldeburgh Classics Weekend incorporating the British Classic and Vintage Dragon Championship
by John Adcroft 28 Jun 2018 04:53 NZST
15-17 June 2018
British Classic and Vintage Dragon Championship at Aldeburgh Classics Weekend © John Adcroft
The event was hosted by Aldeburgh Yacht Club between 15th and 17th June for the Dragons and 16th and 17th for the other Classic Classes.
Dragons
After an hours delay on the Friday due to a lack of wind OOD Mike Hayles, AYC Club President, was able to get the fleet away. A total of 7 of these magnificent old boats took to the water for two races. This was followed by a formal dinner in the club which was enjoyed by all and left a number of sore heads on the Saturday morning. The wind was up on the Saturday and spectators were treated to the sight of the boats coming back up river with spinnakers flying. Unfortunately in the second race on Saturday Tim Hannon's Harkaway lost it's mast and was out of the event. Sunday dawned a little kinder and the survivors went out for the final race. In the Classic division for carvel planked boats built before 1975 Tim Hannon's 3 wins before losing his mast was enough to win him the trophy. In the Vintage division for all GRP,Cold Moulded and strip planked boats built in 1993 or before, the winner with five bullets was Patrick Gifford (that surname does seem to appear a lot in Y&Y reports).
Classic Weekend
Held over the same weekend AYC also held a Classic Boat Regatta with individual starts for Loch Longs,Keelboat Handicap, Dinghy Handicap and Aldeburgh Lapwings. OOD Martin Liddell was able to set testing courses on the river, particularly on the Saturday when the wind at times was a little strong for some of the older dinghies (and their crews!).
The Loch Long fleet was dominated by George Hill, crewed by father Patrick the AYC Commodore,with three bullets. The keelboat handicap fleet was dominated by Flying Fifteens with a sole Broads OD joining them and was won by Chris Spark. The dinghy handicap saw an assortment of classes with CVRDA visitors from 5 different clubs, this was won by Peter Vinton from Warsash in a Finn. The Aldeburgh Lapwing fleet was won by father and son team of Duncan and Scott Matthew.
AYC would like to thank Demon Yachts for their generous sponsorship and to Adnams for providing some fantastic prizes for the winners of all fleets.
Overall Results:
Classic Dragons
1st 151 Harkaway, Tim Hannon (AYC)
2nd 207 Kestrel, Matt Lingley (AYC)
Vintage Dragons
1st 515 Basilisk, Patrick Gifford (AYC)
2nd 581 Panther, E&J Hunt (AYC)
Loch Longs
1st 142 Skye, George Hill (AYC)
2nd 40 Jean, Mark Seccombe (AYC)
Keelboat Handicap
1st FF 3955(sails) Satisffaction, Chris Spark (AYC)
2nd FF 3699 Foregone Confusion, Syndicate (AYC)
Dinghy Handicap
1st Finn 197 Django, Peter Vinton (Warsash SC)
2nd Moth Little More, Ian Marshall (Oxford SC)
Lapwing
1st 47 Skua, Duncan Matthew (AYC)
2nd 21 Swallow, Ollie Kmiecik (AYC)