Minima Yacht Club's Regatta 2025
by John Forbes 4 Sep 08:46 UTC
30-31 August 2025
Frances Southall's Topper gets away at the front after the start - Minima Regatta 2025 © Eileen Barry
Saturday morning in Kingston was lovely, gentle breeze, bright sunshine. A couple of hours later I was swallowing Thames.
It was that sort of weekend. Possibly deterred by the Met Office, which at one point put up 40mph for Sunday afternoon (this landlubber can't be doing with knots), the turnout was well down on previous years, at 15 boats — that's 14 helms — half last year's.
Another factor might well have been the massive river events planned for the following weekend, when the Kings' Town Royally celebrates the 11th centenary of Saxon King Athelstan's coronation.
In truth it was just a good strong wind, steady by river standards, shifts 30 degrees rather than 180 - southerlies work well on our north south reach — and while the sailing was hard, hairy and scary at times, drawing oohs and aahs from the 'spectators' distracted from feeding the ducks on the landing stage upstream of the club house, there were many moments of extreme speed and fun.
Classic river sailing, in short, enlivened by the usual traffic, notably at the start of the first race on Sunday, when a big gust and two dragon boats in close formation arrived at the start line just as the bell went. Twickenham's Rob Brignell in Willow became intimately entangled with the dragon boats while your correspondent capsized for the second time and once more for luck on our first attempt at righting.
There was no damage or injury, but the race was abandoned amid general carnage on the start line.
Matty Key of Tamesis led the way in the Lasers cheerfully and athletically hopping back in when he went over, winning consistently until Minima's Ed Mayley showed the way in the last race, however with an out of class Radial rig.
In the Solos Twickenham's Nick Titley could only manage the second day of the competition, but the two discards were all he needed to win with three firsts. Fatigue could have been a factor, with the competition both taking a wind-check in the last race.
After a sad season at Minima with rarely more than two Ents on the line we had a bonanza six sets of blue sails in a separate start from the less colourful classes, admittedly not all at once, with five competing on both days. As is his wont Ed Mayley skipped around in front, however he proved he was not infallible when he also took a dive in the first race on Sunday in the region of the upstream windward mark where fewer trees and buildings allowed the gusts a free shot.
In the Portsmouth Yardstick Handicap class Erica Bishop (Topper) stayed in front of Paul Seamen's lone Merlin for all but one race - it wasn't very good weather for flying kites on the river. Frances Southall had an exciting time even in a reefed Topper.
Prize of the day went to Serhii Yaroshenko, a new sailor this year at Twickenham, who sailed with his young son Platon, who has all the instincts of a top sailor, up on the plate like a pro when they capsized in the last race, three stone nothing in his wringing wetsuit. One of only three boats to finish all five races (along with Erica Bishop and Matty Key) they richly deserved a special award for Endeavour.
Results (Minima unless stated):
Enterprise:
1 Ed Mayley, James Budden
2 John Forbes, Diane Keighley
Laser:
1 Matty Key (Tamesis)
2 Keith Payne
Solo:
1 Nick Titley (Twickenham)
2 John Wilkey
Portsmouth Yardstick:
1 Erica Bishop
2 Paul Seamen
Endeavour:
Serhii and Platon Yaroshenko