Unlike the last regatta at Cantley, this time we were favoured with sunshine and consistently light winds.  From a flat calm on Saturday morning, it became a gentle south easterly, but with enough in it to make the pursuit race a good sail for most.  As last year, the course was set mainly downriver, but this time avoiding the tack against the tide that caused so many problems in the 2013 race.

With David Walker in Kuwait , this year Pandora III had the privilege of setting off first and, like Kingfisher in the first pursuit race three years ago, they proved impossible to catch.  Maidie (with her crew of lager-drinking water babies) came closest, but couldn’t quite overhaul them.  The class captain brought Catspaw in third, with Anne fighting off Zingara all the way round to hold 4^th place.

Many participants enjoyed an evening roast dinner in the Reedcutter and some were perhaps later to bed than was good for them...

It was felt prudent to avoid tacking against the tide on Sunday morning too, but the only way to do this was to set a short looping course within Cantley Reach.  It was felt three laps would be sufficient but, in the event, the breeze freshened more than expected, giving quite a short race.  Maidie romped round in half an hour, but still managed to save her time over Pandora to win, with Catspaw again in third place.  Even the slowest yacht completed the course in an hour. 

Wanting to give a longer and more interesting sail in the afternoon, the OOD took advantage of the 3 o’clock slack water to run what turned out to be a slightly ambitious course upriver.  Passing through the woods at Langley turned out not to be the issue, but rather a clump of trees upriver and a patch of dead wind, which caused the fleet to bunch up into a drifting match.

Zingara came out of this best, easily saving her time on Maidie to win the race, with Catspaw making it a hat trick of third places.  Pandora could only manage a 5^th place, thereby yielding the Nelson Trophy for overall winner to Mike Barnes.  However, John was able to discard this 5^th place when it came to calculating the result of the Diamond Jubilee Trophy, which he won comfortably from Anne and Anna.