The last weekend of August offered some feisty wind conditions for those taking part in the Reid Scott & Beastie events (the latter being part of a series of events hosted across four clubs in the Eastern region).

Some were put off by the forecast of rain on the Friday, but for the 48 sailors who took to the water, it proved to be a glorious afternoon of steady F4-5 winds and clear skies. We had a couple of coaches out on the water, as there were a handful of novice racers in the Topper/Tera & Optimist fleets; honourable mention to Charlie C-C who raced like a pro and ended the day in 3^rd place overall! Meanwhile, in the Feva fleet, the day was a close-fought tussle, with 2 boats ending the day on equal points (visitors Noah & Rory, and homegrown scratch pairing Daniel H & Bella E). We managed to fit in a third race for all 5 classes, but due to some confusion in the communications, this was not entirely successful for all (in the Gen Handicap fleet, all 4 boats managed to sail different courses, rendering the race null & void).

Saturday saw fresher winds, with gusts around 30mph recorded. The Oppie Regatta fleet briefly ventured onto the river, but swiftly retreated to the lake for more enjoyable conditions. Kudos to Hannah K for making that call, and ensuring they could make the most of the day. The challenging conditions meant that a number of boats didn’t finish the first race, but the hardy majority managed to stay out for a second, with the competition really hotting up across all fleets.

On Sunday we welcomed a large number of additional visitors in Oppies, Teras, ILCA 4s (Laser 4.7s in old money) & Fevas, swelling the ranks to over 90 sailors. Despite the late tides, we again managed 3 races for most (including 3 on the lake for the Oppie Regatta fleet), allowing some great competition in superb conditions. On several occasions, we had classes starting a new race while others were still crossing the line for a previous, making for some exciting viewing from the shore (and numerous challenges for the spotters on the bridge!).

The suspense was really building in the early evening as the bridge team valiantly trawled through results for the 13 races that day, and then had to extrapolate the Beastie results based on different age/rig size criteria. By the time we were ready for prize-giving, a number of the further-flung visitors had already had to set off home, but a number expressed their thanks for a great weekend of racing in a very welcoming atmosphere, with great support both on and off the water.

Clare Hall

Results

Reid Scott

General Handicap

1 Osea Evans & Jack Bernard/Luca Batley

2 Finlay Craig & Oscar Rogers

3 Natasha & Olivia Adkins

ILCA/LASER (all rigs)

1 Callum Marshall

2 Hugh Andrews

3 Jess Welch

FEVA

1 Noah Mathers & Rory Luddington (visitors)

2 Daniel Hall & Bella Elderton

3 Esme Thomas & Bertie Elderton/Elvie Coates

TOPPER/TERA

1 Ben Crawford

2 William Jenkins 

3 Elliot Gardner

OPTIMISTS

1 Thomas Child (visitor)

2 Freddie Barnes (visitor)

3 Beatrie Long (visitor)

Beastie

ILCA 4/LASER 4.7

1 Callum Marshall

2 ess Welch

3 Will Keys-Batson

FEVA

1 Noah Mathers & Rory Luddington

2 Amelie Fairhead & Hugh Walker 

3 Daniel Hall & Bella Elderton

TERA

1 Edward Gould

2 George Panos

3 Harry Calver

TOPPER

1 Joe Crawford

2 Amelia Gilbert

3 Abigail Nicols

OPTIMISTS

1 Thomas Child

2 Freddie Barnes

3 Isaac Thomas

OPTIMIST REGATTA FLEET

1 Jenson Edwards

2 Emily Steggals

3 Maddison Dove

4 Isla Steggals