Perhaps because of the presence of the Crystal Ball trophy, there was an improved turnout at Breydon Regatta this year. 14 boats entered the first race, which started off well enough, but then the tide strengthened and the wind dropped, with inevitable results. Starlight Lady pootled round happily enough in just over an hour, but the next two finishers were half an hour behind and then the gaps just got longer and longer, with Kingfisher and Anna both taking around three hours to complete the course!

Others were not so persistent, with Lucky Breeze determinedly rounding the top mark out of sheer doggedness before retiring and three others failing to get away from the bottom mark. The boats were sailing beautifully through the water, but simply couldn’t make headway against the strong ebb tide. Despite the course being shortened to one round, only nine boats were able to finish.

The afternoon race looked as if it was going the same way for a while, despite the buoys being pulled in to make a shorter loop with three laps. Again, Starlight Lady coped very happily, taking just under three quarters of an hour to complete the course, before happily heading for the moorings just as the wind dropped. For a while there was total calm, but then the heavens opened and everybody got very wet. This did, however, bring a good breeze with it and in the event every boat apart from Lucky Breeze managed to get round.

No surprise that Starlight Lady won both races and, as a natural consequence, the overall trophy for the two Saturday races.

The Sunday passage race was a whole different ball game. The breeze freshened up throughout the morning and eventually the sun came out too. The time gate for starting was set rather late, meaning there was a bit of a scrum for the first starts, but the reaching course up the Yare to Reedham and the stronger wind meant everybody finished.

These conditions did not favour Starlight Lady and they could only manage a 4th place, although there was no surprise that they took the trophy for fastest passage. In fact, the corrected times at the top were all very close, with Kingfisher taking victory by only 29 seconds from Beth. This meant a delighted Chris Sale also won the Crystal Ball and was kind enough to decide it should be raced for at another YSC event for next year.

Results

Snipe Tankard (Saturday morning)  1. Starlight Lady   2. Zingara  3. Matilda   4. Beth   5. Brigand   6. Kingfisher   7. Henrietta   8. Anne   9. Anna   DNF - Dryad, Lucky Breeze, Pollywog, Wisp, Honey

Berney Arms Cup (Saturday afternoon)  1. Starlight Lady   2. Henrietta   3. Beth   4. Anne   5. Zingara   6. Matilda   7. Pollywog   8. Kingfisher   9. Honey   10. Dryad   11. Anna   12. Wisp   DNF - Lucky Breeze

Breeze Yard of Ale (Saturday overall)  1. Starlight Lady   2.  Zingara   3. Beth   4. Henrietta   5. Matilda   6. Anne   7. Kingfisher  8. Anna

Greyhound Trophy (fastest passage)  1. Starlight Lady   2.  Beth   3. Matilda   4. Zingara   5. Henrietta   6. Anna   7. Dryad   8. Honey   9. Kingfisher   10. Vagabond   11. Pollywog   12. The Only Girl   13. Wisp   14. Lucky Breeze

Sambrooke-Sturgess Trophy (Passage Race) and Crystal Ball (peripatetic trophy)   1. Kingfisher   2. Beth   3. Pollywog   4. Starlight Lady   5. Honey   6. Lucky Breeze   7. The Only Girl   8. Matilda   9. Henrietta   10. Dryad   11. Anna   12. Zingara   13. Wisp   14. Vagabond   OCS - Anne

Breydon Tankard (overall, 15% +)   1. Kingfisher   2. Pollywog   3. Honey

Breydon Barometer (overall)   1. Starlight Lady   2. Beth   3. Kingfisher   4. Pollywog   5. Henrietta   6. Matilda   7. Zingara   8. Honey   9. Anna   10. Dryad   11. Wisp