New entrant wins PM Society Sailing Regatta 2010
Over one hundred people took part in this year's PM Society Regatta, now in its seventh year, which was held on Monday 7th June.
Half the crew arrived on Sunday night and filled a cosy little Italian restaurant, La Dolce Vita, to capacity. The evening was a great success and the PM Society would like to thank Talentmark who kindly sponsored this very sociable event.
The following day the teams all gathered bright and early at Port Hamble for their safety briefings and quickly got going for the morning's sailing practice session. We saw fresh winds with some boats flying along at nearly nine knots. Professional skippers showed crews the ropes and taught newcomers how to helm, tack and gybe the fantastic 37ft yachts.
Following the busy morning of sailing practice, the yachts headed for Cowes where crews were treated to lunch at the fabulous Royal Yacht Squadron. Keeping weight down on the yachts is one of the tactics used by ultra competitive teams (the PM Society's skipper even emptied the water tanks to gain advantage), however, the quality of the Royal Yacht Squadron's food, and in particular the choice of delicious desserts, meant some crews joined the race somewhat heavier than when they started!
Many of this year's teams had a fair amount of experience having taken part over a number of years. The cannon fired to mark the beginning of the race and saw a crowded but uneventful start as the yachts headed for the first mark – an upwind buoy called Navigator Solutions.
With the tide running hard against the yachts and the mark positioned near to the shallows it became apparent that this was no walk in the park. Some yachts found themselves running out of water while others continually tacked for nearly an hour to make it round the course! The struggling yachts ended up tightly bunched as the tide strengthened. It's at times like this you're glad to have professionals onboard who know the collision regulations. Cries of "water" and "starboard" could be heard across the fleet as skippers exercised control over the combined one hundred tons of yachts taking part!
A few yachts got the tactics and timing just right and cleared Navigator Solutions early. The gap between them and the rest of the fleet meant that the race was in the hands of just three or four of the thirteen yachts taking part. In the end the honours went to Health Information who fended off competition from second and third place winners, Rapp Collins and RFA.
Our thanks to all who took part, congratulations to the winners and we hope to welcome more newcomers for next year's Regatta.
Held on: 07/06/2010