With ten days to go and only two boats entered for Breydon Regatta, there was some anxiety amongst the committee that we were heading for a financial disaster.  We need not have worried!  Unbeknown to us all, a group of Wroxham-based boat owners had got together in January and all agreed to do Breydon, weather permitting.  With an excellent sunny, light wind forecast, they did indeed come, giving us the largest attendance at this event since 2015.  Many of them chose to use the Berney moorings, from where tales of water-skiing and barbecues filtered back to Burgh Castle.

Others moored on the Waveney and patronised the Fisherman's Inn, whose bar staff worked their socks off all weekend, serving very acceptable beer and food.  They do, of course, also have one of the best views in Broadland, which can (and did) produce spectacular sunsets.

There was a good sailing breeze on Saturday morning and it was a glorious sight seeing Breydon filled with so many river cruisers of various shapes and sizes, including Marty Thompson's brand new Shark, making her racing debut and being seriously sailed for the first time, apart from some short trials on Wroxham Broad.  She looked amazing and certainly seems fast.  Although she was not first over the line in her start, she did get line honours.

Those that could, popped in the odd reef as the race progressed, looping up and down the top end of Breydon Water three times.  The fluctuating wind (both in strength and direction) appeared not to favour the second start boats, none of which finished higher than 8th place.  The third start (perhaps not being so over-canvassed as the wind freshened) did best, with Mystery, Alchemy and Pirate taking the top three places, in that order.  Shark, had she not been on a provisional handicap, would have come 4th.

It had been agreed at the briefing to run the two races back to back and so, after a ten minute break, they were all off again.  Shark had disappeared back to Berney and reappeared well reefed down: Morning Calm also disappeared in that direction, reappearing just in time to make their start, if only they had turned round to race instead of being lured by the attractions of Great Yarmouth...

With the ebb tide starting to set in and it now being a tack against it from the bottom mark, it was the turn of the faster boats to do well.  Shark, despite trying to capsize during a gybe when the boom caught the backstay, not only took line honours again, but would have won if sailing on a ratified handicap.  Marty appeared in the pub afterwards justifiably buzzing after his first races.  These results would have been good enough to give Shark 2nd overall for the day, but that honour went instead to Alchemy, who added another 2nd place to their day's work.  Swallowtail, in fact, won and India came third, with Mystery only managing a 4th place.

With an early finish to the day's racing, there was then plenty of time for rest and relaxation as well as an opportunity to ponder the best time to set off for Sunday's passage race.  There was much consultation of the weather forecast and a loose concensus that the wind would pick up a little around 11.30.  Consequently, three boats chose this start time and two others went soon after.  Sparklet and Anna, who are both crewed by old hands at this race, both chose to go much later; Mike with more than half an eye on retaining the Reedham Greyhound Trophy for the fastest elapsed time.  Alchemy, Swallowtail and Ladybird all went early and paid for it with poor results, having hit the last of the flood tide upon rounding the mark and not getting the full benefit of the freshening wind.

The wind did indeed start to pick up around 11.30, but with a flat calm earlier and hot sunshine, it was classic conditions for a sea breeze and that is exactly what happened, giving the fleet some unpredictable and fluky wind shifts, as well as a lot more wind from a totally different direction.  Most boats romped back onto Breydon at the finish of the race, apart from Sparklet which, bizarrely, found a flat calm while nearby boats were still sailing hard.  This cost Mike second place for the Reedham Greyhound Trophy and perhaps first place too, with Skylark coming home 2 minutes and 49 seconds quicker and India just 54 seconds faster than Sparklet to take second place.

Mystery, starting at 11.35, seemed to scoot round, being 4th fastest over the water and taking first place on corrected time.  Anna, starting late, had an excellent sail to come second, followed by Skylark and then Morning Calm: Bill having managed to locate the start line at the correct time.  Combined with her first place on Saturday morning, this made Mystery the clear winner of the weekend, with Skylark and India in second and third, each with 8 points.

In fact, Mystery was quick enough to take third place in the Jack Hunt Memorial Trophy for the shortest combined elapsed times over the weekend, which is normally the preserve of low handicap boats.  It was won by India, who spent 2 minutes and 43 seconds less time on the water than Skylark in second place.

With kind permission from the pub manager, we were able to hold our prize-giving at the Fisherman's Inn, where engraved tumblers were handed out to the top three in each of the eight trophy categories, along with (of course) those all important trophies.  The raffle draw followed, which absolutely was not at all fixed to give our hard-working secretary, Julia, the top prize £60 hamper.

Many thanks to Goodchild Marine for allowing us to use their premises as a race base and for parking and to all who came and sailed with us.  It was great to see you all out on Breydon and here's hoping for good weather again next year!