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Tammy at the Minima Regatta 2024

Published 13:54 on 5 Oct 2024

Minima Yacht Club's ever popular weekend-long regatta took place on the weekend of the 31st of August. A fleet of three Lasers from Tamesis (Henry Medcalf, Tom Bull, Jim Hamilton) braved the tailwind to head upriver past Kingston Bridge to join boats from Minima, Twickenham and Hampton sailing clubs. Unpacking and rigging ensued, followed by a race and course briefing by the PRO Paul Bloomfield.

Saturday's racing was characterised by a strong, shifty north-easterly, which created a large wind shadow near the Kingston bank. It was important to time your starts correctly so that you were in the goldilocks zone between this wind shadow and the wall on the Middlesex bank as the countdown hit zero! Unfortunately, Tom Bull and I were not able to master this in the first race, as we were too distracted match racing each other. However, after a bad start, we managed to dodge the many capsized boats across the course to climb up the standings and finish 1-2 without too many incidents.

The second race started better, as I rounded the upwind mark first, followed by Ed Cubitt and Tom Bull. A couple of lucky gusts and I was away, with Tom Bull in hot pursuit. Only a downwind capsize could stop Tom, allowing us to finish the day with one win each.

The evening's entertainment was thoroughly enjoyed by all, with a delicious barbeque and live band, although my cycle home was slightly wobblier than usual.

The wind on Sunday had decreased and swung slightly to the east, still providing a challenge to sailors making their way up and down the course. The Tammy fleet were joined by Tim Medcalf in his Solo, and Peter Impey in his Laser, bumping the total number of Lasers to eight.

The first race of the day began with a good start for me, and I found myself first around the top mark, closely followed by Tom Bull. Unfortunately the pressure of being chased by a sailor of such calibre became too much and I embarrassingly dry-capsized whilst in the lead. Although the boat was righted within roughly ten seconds, the damage was done and I had to settle for second place. Peter unfortunately had to fix his tiller mid race but still managed to finish in fourth. Things fared much better for Tim Medcalf, who was victorious in the Solo class, fending off Nick Titley for the win.

The second race of the day began with a poor start for Tom and I, who found themselves 6th and 7th respectively around the top mark. My badly-timed decision by to extend down the bank instead of tacking off allowed Tom to cleverly sail over the top and into the lead, wrapping up the Laser class.

Race five featured a significant shakeup of the fleet, with Peter Impey mastering the lighter and shiftier conditions to create a large lead on the first downwind. This win secured him third, creating a Tammy 1-2-3 in the Laser Class!

Thank you to Minima for hosting another successful and exciting regatta, and for running a fantastic social, to Twickenham YC for offering to tow us back, it was much appreciated, and to the Tammy members who came down to spectate and offer encouragement, it is always great to see us have a presence at away events.

Report and photos Henry Medcalf.