RS Vareos at the Great Yarmouth and Gorleston Beach Regatta

Great Yarmouth & Gorleston SC 75th Anniversary Beach Regatta © GYGSC

The RS Vareo fleet assembled at GYGSC over the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd June as part of the RS Vareo Rooster National Tour, joining the club for their 75th Anniversary Beach Regatta.

The five local boats were joined by six visitors with Alan Bassett, from Pevensey Bay SC being the most travelled visitor. Several visitors opted to arrive early on Friday evening and once their boats were unpacked and rigged in the dinghy park decided to enjoy a group Fish & Chip supper on the prom in front of the club.

Despite a reasonable forecast, Saturday dawned overcast with many dark grey clouds. The temperature was well down on what was expected. However, there was a good F3 from the SSE which remained steady all day. The ebb tide had just kicked in as the boats launched meaning a long beat into the tide. During the day the sea state became quite choppy providing a tough and tiring day for all.

Race One - The RS Vareo fleet started just before the Beach Regatta fleet. The sea state had started to get a little choppy making for a tough beat but provided a few surfing opportunities downwind. After the start Dave Houghton and Howard Astley-Jones were first to tack inshore which helped them gain a good lead after lap one. James Jarvey led the chasing pack with Luke Fisher hot on his tail. Luke's upwind pace saw him overtake James on the second beat and put him just behind Howard at the windward mark. Dave just hung onto his lead at the finish and Luke just pipped Howard across the line with James fourth.

Race Two - Luke led from start to finish, starting an impressive run of four race wins. Alan led the others after lap one with James next. After lap two Alan held a small lead over Nick Crickmore who had sneaked pass James. On the final lap Nick managed to pass Alan and Chris jumping from seventh on lap one to fourth at the line.

Race Three - Luke led from start to finish. Once again Alan showed good upwind speed to lead the rest of the fleet after lap one, followed by James and Howard. On lap two James had moved up to second with Alan holding off Howard. On the final lap Howard moved up to third and Dave 'stole' fourth from Alan on the line after having a good final downwind leg.

Once ashore everyone congregated around the clubhouse awaiting the delights of the 'catering' team who provided a splendid three course meal, despite the best efforts of the club electrics to hamper their cooking! Thankfully, by this time the clouds had almost cleared, providing much warmer conditions and around thirty visitors and members enjoyed an al fresco dinner and drinks on the prom.

Sunday, another day and what a contrast, it felt like Summer had eventually arrived. Cloudless skies, temperature in the high teens, a pleasant F2 from the East and a very flat sea. We launched just before High Water so there was still a little flood tide running. Today was going to be one for keeping your eye on the tide at each mark.

Race Four - Luke started the day where he left off, leading from start to finish. Paul led the rest after lap one with Nick not far behind, Howard in fourth with Keith a short way behind. The lighter conditions saw many place changes on the final lap, Paul held second place at the finish with Howard moving up to third and James fourth.

Race Five - By this time it was slack water with the ebb tide kicking in mid race. Luke did a horizon job, timing his tacks to the windward mark to perfection. James led the rest followed by Howard, Chris and Nick. On lap two nearly everyone struggled to round the windward mark without having to put in a few extra tacks as the wind dropped for a while just as everyone arrived at the mark, but despite this and with the exception of Howard overtaking James, places remained pretty much same to the finish.

Race Six - By this time the ebb tide was noticeable. The fleet were fairly split with some opting to go offshore where there seemed a little more wind, but with the risk of more tide. As it turned out the two leading boats, Howard and Dave both went offshore and rounded the windward mark with a short lead, with Luke next followed by James and Chris. On the final lap Howard 'stormed' up the beat opening up a huge lead and Dave managed to finally time a tack to the windward mark well (first time all weekend!) to have a comfortable lead over Luke. In fact the top five places remained the same. Paul North and Richard Foster both had better second beats both gaining two places.

By the time we returned to shore the temperature was probably in the twenties, making for a very pleasant end to the day as most joined in a late lunch and drinks on the prom.

No surprises as to the overall winner, winning four of the six races Luke demonstrated great consistency over the weekend and was never out of the top three. Runner up was Howard who also put in a good set of results, only once being out of the top three.

Like most clubs, GYGSC survives due to the willingness of the members volunteering to help out at events and we are fortunate to have members who made the weekend such an enjoyable event. Thank you! Thanks also to Rooster sponsor of our RS Vareo National Tour.

Overall Results: