Results / Lymington Dinghy Regatta incl RS Vareo Noble Marine National Championship Royal Lymington YC - 19/07/2025

On the leisurely drive over to Lymington on Saturday for a 1pm start, Karen had been telling me about previous events here being great, but my main take away point was that you always go right and right. And true enough that was the story of the weekend. 

After arriving at LTSC and following registration / briefing at RLYC, we made our way out to the east course of the regatta. The starts all got away cleanly, with the first start being a slight fight at the committee boat for that precious right hand side. The first beat showed Matt and Bethan with upwind pace who navigated their way to the windward as leaders. The downwind allowed others to catch up though, with the fleet condensing back together again, before the 2nd windward leg allowed some time for place changes. Brand new pairing Karen and Lorna worked their way back from a slow start to take the lead for the final soaking leg of the day, followed closely by Steven and Christina.

Race 2 followed a similar theme - get across the line and cross the committee boat to get towards the shore and out of the strongest tide. It was a fine balance of not going too early to avoid having dirty air for the whole leg from the 4s and 1s, but not leaving it so late that you were in the stronger tide and larger chop. Karen and a Lorna had learnt this from race 1 as they led the fleet, with Matt and Bethan leading the chase behind followed closely by Mark and Jess.

Race 3 of the day threw a slight spanner in the works - you want to get to the right, but a port flyer executed well by a 400 certainly looked attractive 3 mins before our start. Mark and Jess took the risk, launching them into an early lead which they then held from start to finish. A slight parade occurred with a mostly 1 tack and 1 gybe per leg, but the planing conditions allowed some place changes behind with well executed downwinds, which Graham and Fin demonstrated putting them in 2nd.

The post racing tea and doughnut after around 4 hours afloat was welcomed by all and a very nice touch from the Lymington clubs, with the sun shining and leaving some time for any boat tweaks required before the Sunday.

A 10:30 start for day 2 seemed keen, but upon arrival at the club there was little action in the boat park with dark skies and a popular pair of binoculars in the clubhouse to gauge how windy it was in the race area. Yachts were heading out under storm sails and dressed in full offshore gear - a great watch from the club whilst under AP and with a bacon butty in hand. Some took this sensible postponement from the race officer to do some boat work in between the showers, whilst others used this as prime nationals social outfit planning time. Once the AP came down and D flag was raised around 12, our slightly depleted fleet made their way to the course ready for the wind to moderate as promised.

The starts were away swiftly with little hanging about from the race team as the bands of rain came through from the needles, and we could watch the fast handicap and 400/100s starts before it was our turn to go. The first beat proved again to be a right hand track, but was mostly a case of who’s least filled up from the Solent chop. With the fleet tight at the windward and Ryan and Kathryn popping round the mark in first, the full send downwind was showing no signs of this ‘moderation’. A crucial gybe point proved to be a make or break, but Karen and Lorna showed their wind and wave experience to take the lead. The second lap became a bit of a beasting with mains flogging and trying to avoid upturned hulls sprinkled about. A shortened course flag was welcomed on the second downwind and the fleets were sent home, with some quite impressive tales of the day from some of the other fleets.

The event was wrapped up at RLYC with the combined regatta prizegiving and friendly reception from the clubs. Overall a great weekend, with it being a lovely opportunity to catchup with those in all the fleets and get some fab pre nationals wind and wave practise in. A huge thanks to both clubs for hosting such a great event.

Next up in the calendar is the Noble Marine Nationals in Abersoch (it’s not too late to be there!), followed by Lee on Solent (13/14 Sep) for the EaSEA tour, and Exe (27/28 Sep) for the Youth Champs and SW tour.

Lorna Glen

Photos: Tristan Jones / Nautipics, full gallery here