17th - 18th August 2024
By Andrew Grant
The weekend of 17th August saw the Aberdeen and Stonehaven Yacht Club annual regatta. Amongst the 38 boats to take to the water were the fleet of 5 Blazes.
There were 6 races scheduled over the two days and the forecast was good - strong, gusty wind (but not extreme) and flat water for all of the 6 races - 3 per day. The sun even made an appearance.
The course for the Blaze fleet for the weekend was triangle-sausage. Always a challenge to remember which one you are on each lap, but at least we had the D-zero fleet in front of us to keep us right.
Race 1 got underway and set the tone of the weekend. Close fleet up the first beat and then off on the first reach which saw Ian Pittendriegh stretch ahead of the rest to never really be challenged. Behind him John Deacon, Andrew Grant and Phil Rose kept each other honest to finish in that order with Gavin Bailey following behind.
Race 2 saw a similar pattern with a close first beat followed by Ian stretching away from the fleet. Up the second beat Ian kept his lead and then set off downwind. Now, remember my earlier statement about difficult to remember what course we were on for each lap? Yep, Ian set off on a Triangle again. Andrew saw his opportunity and headed off on the sausage followed by Phil. Ian only realised his error as he approached the wing mark. Despite his superior boat speed he was not able to claw back all the places, finishing second behind Andrew, with Phil 3rd and Gavin 4th. John had had some issues in this race and had decided to retire and save his energy for the remaining races.
Race 3 was essentially a re-run of the first race. Ian stretching away with John, Andrew and Phil doing battle behind. John and Andrew crossed the line in very close proximity after the second triangle. John stopped, Andrew didnt. The S flag was flying, but the blaze class flag wasn't up (race officer decided that we were all having so much fun that the D-zeros and the Blazes could have an extra sausage in preparation for the barbecue that was to come). This momentary stop by John (followed, I'm sure, by a few choice words) allowed Andrew to pull open a gap which he managed to keep to cross the line second behind Ian with John third and Phil fourth and Gavin again in 5th.
Back ashore, and with boat packed away, a quick gathering of all the locals was held in the galley, so a rendition of Happy Birthday could be performed to commemorate John's birthday. The evening's socialising and BBQ were then enjoyed. In the post-sail debrief in the boat yard it became clear that Gavin had suffered mechanical failure of the rack at one of the welds. He managed to get it back to the beach safely, but it did put pay to any further racing for him at this event.
Day 2 came around far too quickly after Saturdays exertions. The weather was pretty much the same as the previous day, as forecast, but the wind had swung and there was definitely a lot more westerly in it.
Race 4 saw the usual Ian taking the lead for pretty much the whole race, with Andrew managing to hold off John to take second. Phil had his tiller extension pop off during the race and had to retire. Fortunately he managed to keep hold of it and get it reattached to allow participation in the remaining races.
Race 5 followed a similar pattern to the other races with Ian taking the bullet. John managed to get the better of Andrew on this occasion to finish 2nd with Phil taking 4th.
Race 6 and we were all now starting to feel the pace. This didnt stop Ian disappearing over the horizon again leaving Andrew, John and Phil to battle for the minor places. Andrew managed to come through to take 2nd with Phil pipping John for 3rd.
A somewhat weary (at least it was for me) sail back to the harbour then followed with the usual drag of the boats up the beach and slip way (always seems a lot steeper at the end of a weekend sailing).
Once the boats were all packed up and everyone was showered and changed we could start recuperating. For me this involved making the most of the £5 for all the tea you can drink over the weekend. What others took was up to them.
Unsurprisingly, Ian won the event, discarding the only blemish in the otherwise perfect score. Andrew took second followed by John in 3rd. In addition to the normal prizes handed out by the club there were additional prizes for the Blaze fleet which had generously been donated by Hartley boats. This was a pleasant surprise and we are extremely grateful for Mr Hartley's contribution.
Many thanks go out to all the people that were involved with running the event from the race committee who ran the racing, all the rescue boat crews, the beach teams for managing trolleys on launch and return, and everyone that was involved with the catering of the event. It was a great weekend's sailing in fantastic conditions. The only slight negative is that the dolphins failed to make an appearance (at least I didn't see any and I haven't heard any reports of them being sighted).
Hopefully, next year's regatta will be just as enjoyable. All blazes are welcome to come along and join us and, who knows, the dolphins may turn up as well?!
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