RNLI 200th Anniversary Mermaid Regatta in aid of the RNLI

Published 01:00 on 28 Aug 2024

After a dull morning with little wind and spots of rain, the skies cleared and the village watched in anticipation of the RNLI celebrations. The club was honoured to host this great celebration, and in particular would like to thank Deb von Elk for all her work towards making it happen. 18 crews had entered the anniversary competition, which required a quick preliminary heat to narrow the field down to the 13 boat Mermaid fleet. Each boat had been sponsored by a local corporate company for a fixed donation to the RNLI, meaning that even more money was being raised by the race.

The heat was a simple racing, compromising a long beat to Bob, run to Jenny, and back across the line. One of the catches of the event was that each crew had to have a minimum of 200 years of life onboard to celebrate the 200th RNLI anniversary, queue the rare sight of seeing racing mermaids either 5 or 6 up! Unfortunately, Pat Spalding (just), Anna Cockell, John Edwards, Johnathan Cocke and Crispin Neiboer didnt make it through.

The final was a special race, with more catches for those competing. Not only did each crew have to have a collective age of 200 years, but also complete a man overboard drill at a specific point during the race. The race committee set a 3 lap triangle course, but with an additional leeward mark only to be rounded when completing the MOB drill, creating a trapezoid for one lap only. The call went out over the radio as to which boats had to do the MOB drill on which lap. So only mildly confusing!

The race only narrowly avoided a general recall, and after no-one went back the committee decided on a 40 second time penalty for those OCS. Furthermore, a 20 second time penalty was added for those boats that didnt follow the RYA MOB procedure correctly as had been briefed. All in all, it made for a very exciting race. Colin Simonds was in front after the first beat, and had been asked to do his MOB drill first. The MOB drill and extra leg was deemed to be worth around 3-4 minutes in extra time per lap depending on the wind conditions when asked. Guy Mattinson picked up a penalty on the first round of MOBs, for picking up their MOB on the windward side at speed. That left Robert Holbrook and Anthony Eaton leading after the end of the first lap.

During the second round, the committee changed the rig to allow for big spinnakers given the drop in windspeed. No-one could agree whether this benefited those that had done their MOB drill, or those that hadnt! Ben Few Brown and Raymond Simonds were both asked to do their MOB drills. Both performed faultlessly despite doing them at opposite ends of the track. Proving the fairness of the race, they ended up rounding the leeward mark exactly the same distance apart as when the rounded the spreader. Of the front runners, only Robert Holbrook was now left to do the MOB drill, and was leading the race at the end of the second lap. 

As the leaders met at the final leeward mark rounding, Colin Simonds emerged clear ahead of the fleets, rounding the last few marks to take the gun under the clubhouse for an inshore finish. Raymond Simonds crossed the line second, but was unfortunately OCS, meaning that 2nd was handed to Ben Few Brown, with Raymond 3rd. Anthony Eaton held his 4th across the line, with Robert Holbrook unfortunately being knocked well down the order from picking up both OCS and MOB penalties. 

After Penalties were added, the top three boats were:

1st Sailing for the Smoking Lobster, Colin Simonds

2nd Sailing for Fish Portsmouth, Ben Few Brown

3rd Sailing for the Old Fort, Seaview, Raymond Simonds

The event (and afterparty!) was deemed a great success, with huge thanks to the Race Committee (Caspar Gray, Jeremy & Amanda Spencer Cooper, Simon North, Barnaby Cotterell) for their efforts and judging the MOB drills. Also to Harriet Hadfield for her amazing commentary and Deb von Elk for organising the amazing day. The exact total raised for the RNLI is currently still being calculated, though it looks to be roughly in the region of £14,000. A tremendous achievement!

The RNLI 200 Trophy will return next year, although the format of the event is yet to be decided.