The 17th/18th March saw the first regatta of the season in the UK held at Datchet Water Sailing Club, set near to Heathrow airport on the Queen Mary Reservoir.
The 2 day Regatta was a handicap event with the A Classes having their results split out of the overall series score.
Around 30 catamarans of all types attended the regatta after a very long UK winter of very little sailing.
On the Saturday the Management committee did an impressive job, managing to hold 3 out of the scheduled 4 races in conditions ranging from 4 to 14 Knots with significant shifts.
I had a great start to the regatta sailing on the Vision A-Class with 3 first places, managing to beat all the faster 2 man boats attending over the water, not just on handicap. Boat speed helped here however, the reservoir caused such shifting conditions the racing was biased towards picking the correct angles over the course. Nigel Lovett also had a good day on his new Vision scoring 3 second places overall.
Sunday’s conditions were even worse with significantly less breeze however, the same strategy held true and the racing showed it was even more important to keep to the favoured areas of the reservoir. It must be said though the changes that have been made to the Vision over the winter (both boat and Rig) seemed to give me the edge over all the other boats especially downwind, being able to get on the hook early. I managed to win 3 out of the 4 scheduled races, choosing not to sail the last race as the title was assured.
The next regatta will be held in Holland at Easter where I will be able to quantify the changes made over the winter against an A-Class specific field.
Please check out the link below for another report, results and images.
A good start to the season!
Chris
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