Dragon Easter Regatta 2016 28 Mar 2016
A mixture of challenging weather conditions made its mark on the Dragon Easter Regatta. A fleet of 8 took to the water on Friday on a very pleasant and sunny day, but with a lack of wind the racing was frustrating but equally compelling and competitive.
Due to ill health, Ian Gray and Scorpio were unable to join the proceedings, but in a short windward leeward in front of the town, Avalanche took the honours, with Mark Wade at the helm, along with Mandy Wade and Andrew Norden crewing. Beauty and the Beast followed them home on a day where the tricky conditions caused problems. Andy Moss battled the strong tide and light wind from his Rice and Cole mooring but was unable to make the start line before race one had finished, and the second race was abandoned as no competitor crossed the line in the right direction within 10 minutes of the start.
Day Two was a different matter, with a strong South westerly making it possible to race a windward leeward course up the Roach. There were two races and both had a strong competitive spirit with close quarter tacking that was not for the faint-hearted. Rob Campbell shrugged off a disappointing day one with a win in the first race on Quicksilver, crewed by Jonathan Hill and Matt Walker. The ever consistent Avalanche was second. Race two witnessed Avalanche take the top spot.
Unfortunately that was the end of racing, as Storm Katie prevented any further racing on Sunday or Monday, so after only three of the scheduled eight races, the weekend was won by Avalanche, with Beauty and the Beast, helmed by Peter Marchant and crewed by Katie Cole and Luke Mallisa second overall after a fine performance in the final race and the Page Boys were an eye-catching third overall after some very good efforts across the weekend.
The storm’s impact did not unfortunately end there, as the gales on Monday saw Hat Trick sink on her mooring. A big thank you to those involved in pumping out and checking on all the other boats once the storm died down a bit, and we hope that Hat Trick will be safely recovered, and back out racing soon. We also wish a speedy recovery to Ian, his absence was evident and he was clearly missed by all.