Horning Sailing Club End of Season Regatta 2023
by Holly Hancock 17 Oct 2023 18:46 NZDT
14-15 October 2023
Horning Sailing Club's traditional End of Season Regatta took place over the weekend, with a fantastic turnout of 30 boats taking part. With racing on Hoveton Little Broad on Saturday, a brisk breeze saw keelboats reefed, plenty of capsizes and some retirements amongst the dinghies!
On Sunday, racing moved to the river in a lighter breeze than Saturday, although conditions varied from gusty, to shifting winds dropping away, to almost nothing. The dinghies were particularly close over the weekend, with one race seeing two Lasers tied on the finish position (William Woolston and James Pettit), with the top of the fleet seeing a battle between Jasper Copping's Norfolk One Design, and Hamish Harmer's Splash, both counting a first and two seconds amongst their results. Eventually, a further second place over Hamish's third was enough to secure Jasper the Bure Trophy for Allcomers B, with Hamish second and Anya Gittins (Splash) third (counting two first places amongst her individual results) who also won the Ladies Trophy for 1st female helm overall. The Toppers saw a battle between sisters Lily and Jasmine Herring, with Lily taking the Last Trophy with three wins as opposed to Jasmine's two.
Meanwhile, on Sunday it was also close in the Yare & Bures, with three boats finishing in the space of 3 seconds! Three wins and a second in Scarce Copper for Jack Copping and Thomas Wildman secured them the Martin Dugdale Memorial Trophy, with Jeremy Tusting and Brian Levy in Brimstone second overall, having won the first race on Sunday - finishing the length of the river ahead of the next boat! Third were Alastair Fields and Kevin Blackwell in Rosy Wave.
Four wins in the Rebels saw Kevin & Jo Edwards (Rebel Maid) win the Chieftain Trophy, with Andy Barnham and Colin Facey (Rebel H) second. Stuart and Ezra Bailey (Jaws) achieved the same feat in the Reedlings, winning the Parsons Dyke Quaich, with Robert and Holly Hancock (Siskin) second. The largest keelboat fleet were the Yeomans, with eight participating. Toby Fields and Daniel Blackwell won the first four races, the final race being won by Geoff and Michael Stubbs in Tara. The End of Season Cruiser Trophy went to Dominic Copping (Harrier) for 1st River Cruiser.
For the weekend, it wasn't just about fleet results; racing results across the Reedling, Yeoman, Rebel, Yare & Bure and faster dinghies were combined to establish who was first on handicap and it was a weekend for the Yeomans - taking the top three positions. Toby Fields and Daniel Blackwell in Tanskey had an almost flawless weekend, counting three firsts and a second amongst their five finishes, winning the End of Season Trophy for First Overall and the Dydlers Mill Cup for first Yeoman. Toby had a significant lead over second-placed Paul Clarke and Andy Tabiner in Two C Sons, who won the Koh I Noor Challenge Tankard for second overall. Third, and winning the Gage Memorial Cup, were Roger Pettit and Barbara Stevens sailing Anoih.
Next weekend sees Horning Sailing Club's inaugural Autumn Passage Race take place on Saturday, before a scaled back racing programme until mid-November.