A fleet of twelve Dragons assembled in Burnham on Crouch on 19th April, to compete for the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club 2019 Dragon Easter Regatta – an event that seems to deliver good racing and great fun every year despite it seeming a long time since we had the thirty plus entry of 2003 when Richard (hoj) Jordan, Little Legs and Fletch sailing ‘Chaotic’ won with a day to spare. The boys racked up such an impressive bar tab over the weekend, that their room charges at the RCYC were waived!

The single, but very welcome, visiting boat ‘Fit-Chick’ (Chris, Emma, Adam, Lyndsay) was launched on Thursday the fleet were good to go on Good Friday after PRO Edwin Buckley’s 11h00 briefing. Three windward leeward races were held in the vicinity of the ‘Pinto’ wreck buoy. ‘Scoprio’ (Ian, Rene, Alex) opening their account with a win in race one, ‘Avalanche’ (Mark, Mandy, Nigel) took race two and ‘Vivacious’ (Dan, Noddy, Mark) race three. ‘Quicksilver VI’ (Rob, Nick, Penny) with two seconds and a sixth place was day one runner up behind ‘Avalanche’ and ahead of ‘Scorpio’.

Saturday was a fine day, and for a long time it did not look like the wind would fill in sufficiently for racing, while restless teams waited under ‘AP’ on the RCYC Balcony. PRO Edwin Buckley eventually coaxed boats out onto the race course, again near ‘Pinto’, and after another wait, the fleet were rewarded with a fantastic breeze that held for races four and five. ‘Avalanche’ took race four and ‘Vivacious’ took race five. Whether ashore or afloat, waiting for racing to commence is something that us sailors do not enjoy so we need a resolute PRO, such as Edwin, to hold their nerve and wait as long as required to deliver the goods. The Saturday curry night laid on for all comers at the RCYC was excellent value and excellent food.

A regatta in Burnham wouldn’t be complete without at least one boat going aground; Rob Campbell obliged on the way to the start line on Sunday. The final day had two races scheduled and, despite light winds and a strong tide making starting challenging, two races were completed. ‘Scorpio’ were best away from the line in race six, and sailed to victory with ‘Das Boot’ (Poul, Chris, Gilly) recording a second, ahead of the ever present challenge from ‘Avalanche’ in third. Race seven saw the ‘U’ flag raised at the preparatory signal after a General Recall and ill-discipline from ‘Vivacious’ at the restart, saw them early home as race seven was completed. The race seven 1,2,3 was ‘Avalanche’, ‘Anarchy’, ‘Scorpio’ a result reflected in the overall standings.

Another fine menu from the RCYC Kitchen on Sunday night’s prize-giving dinner; and in his usual fashion, the Chef, made a hasty exit before we could thank him ‘en masse’ for his talents. We had a round-up of the day three performances and delivery of the last few chocolate eggs for daily race podium fillers, before the top three teams came forward to receive their prizes – RCYC engraved wine bottle coasters.

Easter 2020 begins on Good Friday 10 April. It is very easy to mark this on your calendar as a must do event and we should try to get numbers back up to the 20s at least, if not the 30s, of the early ‘noughties’.

Huge thanks to all involved in the preparation and running of this event.

Words – Andrew ‘Noddy’ Norden

Images – Roger Mant Photography