A smaller fleet of squibs than usual made their way from the RCYC up to Edinburgh and the Royal Forth Yacht Club – not a huge surprise considering the length of the journey and the expected weather forecast. However as the final few squibs made their way up it was sunshine that greeted them not rain!

It was a slightly more leisurely start to the regatta than normal as organisers had taken the decision to launch Sunday and start racing Monday and the team were able to enjoy the surroundings and potter about Leith. As usual, most of the Burnham fleet had brought bikes for the journey to the club however by Sunday, we were already two bikes down and one DOTD nomination in following a slight mistake by Lady Penelope in not remembering to lock their bikes up whilst at the pub.

The forecast for the week suggested frustrating sailing with lots of attention to the keeping the boats moving forward and in the right direction. In the practice race it was great to see Phil Aspinall crewed by RFYC local Fiona lead the fleet round the course. Unfortunately they were reeled in by the final mark but still finished 2nd, a fantastic result considering Fiona hadn’t previously sailed a squib!

And then racing started in earnest, the plan was for 2 races each day and on the whole this happened apart from Wednesday, when there was a lengthy delay waiting for the wind to come in and competitors instead turned their attention to a game of skittles (& rivalries on the water continued into that game), and Thursday when the race officer made up for the previous day’s 1 race and squeezed 3 in. Up until Thursday it looked as if the battle was between RicO’shea (Tom Jeffcoate & Mark Hogan) & Squib (Dick Batt & Pete Richards) who were sharing the spoils alongside a couple of local boats – Willpower and Magic Flute. However this all changed on Thursday as Spoof (Micky Wright and Alex Porteous) had a cracking day posting 2, 6, 1 whilst others found themselves at the back of the pack. This, along with their other consistent results throughout the week pushed them into 1st place with one race to go. Meanwhile Lady Penelope (Malcolm Hutchings & Andy Carley) was also having a late charge and moving up the fleet.

Some would expect that, going into the last day leading, a clear head was needed and the crew from RicO’shea clearly thought so as multiple rums were purchased for Spoof. However the Burnham fleet have had much experience drinking and it may not have had the desired effect RicO’shea had hoped for as the boats lined up on the start.

The article in Yachts and Yachting has already described this as a match race between Spoof and RicO’shea and at times it definitely felt as if there were only two boats on the race course however there were also others fighting for prizes and a number of the Burnham fleet were up there in the race, indeed at one stage with RicO’shea needing to have 4 boats between them and Spoof, two of these were Guy Fawkes and By The Lee (Jo Tribe and Jason Phelps). As the competition between Spoof and RicO’shea continued, it was Lady Penelope who opened up the lead holding it right to the end to win the final race of the 2024 Squib Nationals. However in the race for the championships it was Spoof, having crossed the bow of RicO’shea with inches to spare in the final run, who finished ahead and became 2024 Squib National Champions!

And after that what else is there to say other than a fantastic week was had with great hospitality from all at Royal Forth Yacht Club. Final positions for the Burnham Fleet were as follows:

• 1st Spoof (Micky Wright and Alex Porteous)
• 5th Lady Penelope (Malcolm Hutchings and Andy Carley)
• 13th By the Lee (Jo Tribe and Jason Phelps)
• 22nd Guy Fawkes (Phil Aspinall and Fiona Hutchison)
• 25th Shifts and Giggles (Jonny Beale and Mark Flynn)
• 27th Black Pig (Ben Luddington & Bill Wright)