There were four days of fantastic racing conditions in the Dartmouth Regatta, with winds from 8kts to over 20kts, and the racing was spectacular amongst the 30 larger boats in IRC Division 1. These ranged from J109s and X362s through to two Farr 45s and a Swan 45.

The races were varied between triangle/sausage and trapezoidal courses, with one of the days being a coastal course around Start Bay. This tended to mean that there was a larger than normal amount of reaching, some of which was without spinnakers or only suitable for flat asymmetrics and so this probably favoured the larger cruiser-racers with low ratings and those with centreline prods and asymmetrics as their standard inventory.

Fitting into both of those categories were the J133s, very low rating 43 footers, one of which, Rennie McArthur Miller’s Quick Silver, soon looked unbeatable with three consecutive wins. However, second in each race was the only Race1 Ker 11.3 competing, Peter Rogers’ High Life, which sailed very well to stay close to the 45s each race, and so there was still all to play for after two days.

The coastal race, in lighter conditions than the first two days, had a more normal amount of upwind and downwind work, albeit that much of the upwind was fetching rather than hard on the wind, but High Life stayed up with the 45s again and took their opportunity to win the race. Quick Silver was only 7th in this one, and although they still led overall as a discard was now allowed, it meant that High Life had the better score counting all races.

With one more race on the last day, no other boats could beat either of them overall, although Michael Broughton’s Swan 45 Hawk, with consistent 3rd placings, could tie with Quick Silver if they won the last race and Quick Silver was lower than 6th, but then Quick Silver would have won the tiebreak.

High Life set out to sail Quick Silver down the fleet, having to keep them lower than 4th in the race, always difficult to judge in a handicap race. They stayed on top of Quick Silver for most of the first half of the race and by then felt secure. With Quick Silver’s lower rating enabling them then to correct out better, they finally finished 10th in the race with High Life 21st, neither of the results counting in their final points. Quick Silver also protested High Life but this was dismissed.

So High Life ended up winning overall by three points ahead of Quick Silver. Hawk came 3rd in the race yet again and came 3rd overall with a remarkably consistent set of results. The winner of the last race, the other J133, Neil Martin’s Jammy Dodger, came 4th overall on tiebreak over Ras Turner’s Reflex 38 Sailing Logic that came 2nd in the last race.

This was a great win in strong IRC competition for the Race1 Ker 11.3, repeating the previous win in the regatta by the 11.3 I-Site.