Sunny and breezy conditions were ideal for Cantley Regatta and 12 yachts turned up to enjoy some excellent sailing, including three from the northern rivers.

With a north westerly wind and a flood tide on Saturday afternoon, the fleet was taken on a reach up to Langley, a tack through the woods, a short loop up and down to (unintentionally) annoy the fishermen, before running back down over the tide to finish at Cantley.

In the first start, Pandora III, with too much wind to fly her topsail, was outclassed by the three Farrington 25s, led by Pippinjack, who pulled out an unassailable lead from Anna, with Vixen trailing behind.  In the second start, Sally did best, eventually splitting Pippinjack in first place and Anna in third.

Twenty four members enjoyed an excellent steak pie or chicken meal in the evening, followed by completely calorie free desserts (?!).  Unusually, there was no late night yarning, with everyone tucked up on their boats well before midnight.

Happily there was more breeze than the forecast force two on Sunday morning and the fleet were able to hold their own against the strong ebb tide.  Prudently Joe Farrow, as race officer, kept the course within Cantley Reach to avoid tacking against the tide through either the trees at Langley or past the factory.

Despite appearing to be a simple reaching course of three laps, the constantly shifting wind direction and strength kept everyone on their toes.  The three Farringtons, this time with Brigand also in their start, again spread out, with Pippinjack making a very smart rounding on her first visit to the top mark.  This put her into a comfortable lead, which she held all the way round to again take first place.  Brigand had jib problems and could not keep up and this time Vixen had the legs on Anna and took second place, with Pixie having the best of the second start to come home third.

Pixie and Sally battled it out all the way round the course, finishing just 19 seconds apart on corrected time and, lower down the fleet, Pandora III and Puck also had a closely contested tussle, crossing the line almost together.

With the wind forecast to drop out in the afternoon, Pandora III was finally able to carry her topsail.  This time there was a longer course up to Langley, downriver to Hardley and back to the top mark at Langley, before reaching down to a buoy near the factory and back up to the line.  Both Pandora III and Sally from the second start revelled in the conditions and finished second and first respectively, with Pippinjack, stymied by a tack to the last mark, when a wind shift meant everyone else could fetch it, only able to manage third place.

However, with his two first places, the overall trophy was already in the bag for Paul Stevens, with Sally taking second overall and Vixen third.  The prize giving was followed by the Raffola, with Terry doing his usual fine job of calling the numbers and a ridiculous number of tickets belonging to the Assistant Secretary coming out of the drum, which prolonged the exercise, as most were drawn again.

Many members, including those from the northern rivers, stayed on afterwards, spending another convivial evening in the Reedcutter before heading off through Yarmouth on Monday; either to go home or to begin the club cruise.