There were three classes –  Apollo was included in Class 3. I requested this, as, although Apollo is lightweight, she is not built for performance racing, as most of the boats in the Lightweight Class 1. are.

33 boats entered the Regatta, and there were 16 in Class 3. Apollo came 9th in Class 3. This was not a bad result, but I feel we could have done better. This is no criticism of the crew, who performed excellently, but more a matter of bad luck.

There were five races. Four of these counted to the final result, leaving one discard.

My analysis is as follows:

• Race 1 – we could not compete as crew got stuck in traffic on  the A64. Fortunately, each boat is allowed one discard. So this was our discard.
• Race 2.  The Course was 2, 7, 5, 3, 2. There was very little wind until just before the end. Most yachts finished within five minutes of each other, and Apollo could have got a very good position on handicap. Unfortunately, the wind, when it came, was too strong for Apollo’s biggest foresail, causing her to round up and slow down. So, we missed the deadline for finishing the race by less than a minute and were therefore classed as DNF (ie. “Did Not Finish”). Bad luck! I blame the weather!
•  Race 3. The course was 2, 3, windward buoy, 5, 7, 2.This was a “windward” race, which means that a new windward buoy was placed immediately at right angles to the start line. As you know, Apollo cannot sail as close to the wind as many other boats, and so we were at a disadvantage. Even so, we came 8th out of 14 boats, which I thought was good.
•  Race 4. The course was: 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 2. Apollo’s start was brilliant. We were protested, but , whatever our misdemeanour, I doubt if Little Jeanie could have sustained the protest, as she did not change course, and bore down on us as windward boat. We were first past the red buoy (no. 3), and were among the leading boats in very light wind conditions. However, the tide changed against us and stopped us when we were within 100 yards or so of the Wheatcroft Sewer Buoy. The light air was  not strong enough to overcome the current. So no yacht was able to finish the race.
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• Race 5. The course was 2, 7, 6, 3, 2. This was a pursuit race. We were recalled because we started 10 seconds too early, and had to start again. Even so, we succeeded in staying with the leading boats downwind until we got to the Caton Bay Buoy. I’m afraid, as skipper, I messed up on rounding the buoy, and so a lot of yachts got ahead of us, including “Havoc”. We caught up with Havoc on the next upwind leg, but fell behind when tacking across to the Red buoy. As a result, Havoc came 4th in the Class and Apollo was 6th  out of the 10 boats in the class which entered the race. So, we could have done better and should have been at least 4th, and that was my fault!

I would like to thank all who crewed. I hope you all enjoyed the regatta as much as I did. It was wonderful to have such splendid sunny weather, and to get the spinnaker up  – even if we could have done with just a little more wind!