Results / Easter Egg Waldringfield - 29/03/2024

This year's Easter Egg regatta held on Good Friday and Saturday blew away the cobwebs for many of the entrants, some deciding that conditions were more suited to spectating that participating!

This event as part of the Sailing Chandlery RS200 EaSEA Tour was always forecast to be windy in the preceding days, and this obviously contributed to a diminished turnout but a good competitive fleet still arrived ready for action. The Race Officer James Skellorn decided to postpone for an hour to allow the bacon butties and a pre-match cake to be digested while the river Deben was filling up a little more, providing a little more space for the action.

As the fleet departed from the shore it was clear to see some rusty crews making their way to the start, some making multiple readings of the water temperature just to make it to the start area. This theme was to be a common one, enjoyed by many. Some of the teams decided that another trip to the galley was the name of the game to watch the first race and see how the others got on, further reducing the contestants.

The fleet had a close start with a solid breeze, with a windward - leeward course, beating downriver to a mark past the club to ensure a good view for the spectators. It was clear from the gun that the new pairing of Videlo and Line were going to employ some "long levers" on the beat and soon showed some awesome speed to the top mark. Harris and Stennet Howard also enjoyed the upwind leg. The beat rewarding those with a good start was predominantly a starboard tack against the flooding tide and having the island in the middle of beat preventing anyone "going up the middle"!

The swimming generally reduced as people figured it out and remembered what to do, but the leaders of Videlo/Line pulled away for a good lead with the visitors of Taylor and Caswell a strong second by the finish with Harris and Stennet Howard completing the podium.

Everyone took a breath from what was a challenging 1h+ race and dried themselves down ready for race 2. The wind for race 2 was still gusty and had backed a little making the beat a bit truer and leaving the decision on which side of the island to take for the beat a good test.

The start was committee boat biased and boats were trying to use the island to hide from the flooding tide. Again, it was the team of Videlo and Line leading the pack and taking the club side of the island to reach the windward mark in the lead. This side paid for some but with the shifts it was variable and the island was now almost out of sight with the high tide.

The lead remained the same with an amazingly consistent performance from Videlo/Line chased by Taylor/Caswell. Douglas Calder and Elizabeth Galloway from RNSA/Burghfield pulled into complete the third slot.

As the fleet came ashore after the second race to refuel and recover everyone had enjoyed some good hard sailing (and a little swimming for many) but were pleased that the decision to only sail 2 races on Friday had been made.

The social in the pub on Friday evening allowed everyone to lick their wounds, restore their pride and share their exploits over a beer and some decent grub. Hope was there for many that they would get to sail on Saturday when the wind was forecast to be a completely different story...

Saturday came, and as predicted the Deben was like a mirror. Then hope as a slight indication of breeze, the race office prepared, and then postponed only for the wind to disappear. Additional visitors arrived on the Saturday full of enthusiasm, but eventually the call was made to abandon racing and allow visitors to make an early exit which disappointed many that were ready to get a race in and had not manged to get out on the Friday.

The Easter Egg prizes were presented, and true to form the wind later filled in which was totally unpredicted! A challenging weekend for all, but thanks to all those that supported the event, and those visitors that made it. Waldringfield hope to see more of you later in the year for the Cartoon Trophy which is 7/8th September 2024 - lets hope we avoid both ends of the spectrum then!

Next stop on the Sailing Chandlery EaSEA Tour is the Train & Race event at Itchenor on 20/21 April

Chris Mayhew

Photos: Alexis Smith