2024 John Emms Memorial Regatta

​A small, but keen fleet of 6 turned up today for the re-run of the John Emms Memorial Regatta.

We relocated from Montrose with the very windy conditions and the expectation that Risdon Brook would offer a safer venue to sail.

That said, the anemometer that Ricky brought along showed 55.8km/hr wind speed as we started the first race. Not surprising that we were all starting in C3 rigs. The day consisted of C3's initially, which turned to a bit of a lull for a while, where most changed out to C1, and then the last stanza of the day was kitted out across the fleet in C2 rigs.

Stu jumped out of the blocks early, running off a first and a few seconds early on in what ended up a close competiton between Stu, Ray and Kyle for much of the day.

Unfortunately, John Hall had some issues with his rudder and was unable to continue sailing after race 4.

At lunch time, it was reported that the top three positions were within 4 points of each other, such was the closeness of the sailing.

After lunch though, Kyle found a fine vein of form, enjoying the very windy conditions and locating shifts effectively - putting a gap on the rest of the field, winning the regatta on 22 points.

Second place was Stu Dawes, 7 points in arrears on 29 points,

Ray Joyce took out third, just one behind Stu on 30 points.

Although it might have been a bit of a gap to the other sailors, Rod sailed very well, with a number of 2nd and 3rds during the day, and Cookie also sailed quite well, with four race wins during the day.

No sail day can be complete without its volunteers, and a big thankyou to John Short for doing the PRO work today and Ricky Price for his assistance with both the rescue boat duties and helping John with the starts and finishes.

It was fantastic also to see a number of club members come along to watch the racing today. It was fantastic feeling the support from you all.

Coming up

Wednesday is  Mid Week DF95Handicap at the Dam, button press at 11am

Next Sunday is IOM Scratch, at MBYC, button press at 1pm

Kyle