NSSA National Youth Regatta at Draycote Water Sailing Club - Day 1
by Jeremy Atkins 25 Jul 2023 19:37 NZST
23-28 July 2023
After the glorious weather for the Opening Ceremony on Sunday night, the weather took a turn for the worse overnight and the campers woke up on Monday to a soggy field, but keen to do battle on Day 1 of the event.
The Regatta fleet, for the less experienced sailors, was racing on the red course. They were given a thorough briefing by Race Officer Norman Byrd before they left the shore and then had a practice race before 2 real races before lunch and 2 in the afternoon.
The other fleet were also planning for 2 races before and 2 after lunch, but during Race 3, the wind switched off completely and the race was abandoned. After an hour-long pause the wind came back and Race 3 was re-run, followed by Race 4. This fooled a few competitors who came in during the windless period, packed away their boats and had a shower. When they emerged, they saw racing going on in ideal sunny conditions with a reasonable breeze.
Because of the abandoning of Race 3 and then long postponement, many competitors were still on the water for the first dinner serving and they piled in for their curry as soon as they came ashore. No dress code had been specified, but for most it was a wetsuit!
Once they had fed and showered, it was on to an evening of sports activities for those not too exhausted by the sailing. Everyone is looking forward to four more races on Tuesday.
In terms of the racing, the Regatta Topper 5.3 fleet has 25 entries and had 3 different race winners. Jai Dhaliwal of the Northamptonshire won two races and combined these with a third and fourth place to be winning overall, some distance ahead of Will Paddick from Oxfordshire.
The 14-strong Regatta Handicap fleet consisted of Topper 4.2s, Fusions and Tera Sports, but Fusions are filling the top four places after the first day and so look to be the boat to be in.
Over on the green course, the ILCA 4s, ILCA6s and Topper 5.3s have separate starts.
The 19 ILCA 4s saw three different race winners, and Robbie Hudson of Kent is leading overnight. However Tyrii Bell of Cambridgeshire is waiting to pounce once the discard comes in, with two firsts and a 4th to go with an OCS in race 1.
24 are competing in the ILCA 6s, but Matthew Botten is rather hogging things, with three first places and a third place. But second placed Julien Rohart of Oxford is winning the consistency prize with four second places!
The Topper 5.3s have gathered 21 competitors, but two sailors evenly shared the first places. Keah Edwards of Cambridgeshire combines his two firsts with a second and third to be leading overnight. But the other double race winner, Alex Holman of Oxfordshire combines those with two shockers to be lying 9th overall - another one waiting for the discards to kick in.
The yellow course is home to the handicap fleet which has seen four different race winners - an RS200, a classic National 12, a Byte C1 and an ILCA 7 - how about that for variety! But everyone is counting some pretty high scores in at least one race, so the total points are high. Nevertheless Patrick & Jonathan Hill from Derbyshire in their RS200 are top, counting a first, third, fourth and, wait for it, a 26th!
The forecast looks good for Day 2 on Tuesday.
Results: