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ISS Regatta: 2019 Report

This year the wind was absent at the beginning of both days, restricting the number of races that the Race Committee was able to organise. The sunny weather on Saturday gave a freshening sea-breeze in the afternoon as we were able to complete two races to count. Some logistic challenges resulted in the third race being an extra which was not to count in the regatta.

Sunday saw a similar pattern with the morning’s faint Northerly being displaced by a new breeze from the East that filled in sufficiently for three further races to be held allowing each vessel one discard in the series.

Lateral Naval Architects have been participants from the first ISS Regatta and their experience always has seen them in contention, winning just over half of the previous regattas. So, as the team to beat they were closely watched by the rest of the fleet. At the end of the first day’s racing is was neck-and-neck between Oceanco and SYC equal first and Lateral equal third with Magnus Marine ‘2’ – Back-Up Power.

The racing continued to be closely fought on Sunday right up to the last with first and second place separated by less than a metre in the final race.

Pirates!
We always have a Pirate race where up to 5% time bonuses can be awarded by the committee boat for those vessels truly entering into the pirate spirit (fancy dress is a good example of this). SYC took line honours, but D’Artagnan was awarded a full bonus and received the traditional bottle of rum as their prize.

Ladies Race

With a 10% time penalty for no lady helm and no option to discard this result, all teams are encouraged to ensure they get the best result in this race. Having helmed for the whole regatta, Sarah Allen of Penningtons Manches Cooper (previously Thomas Cooper Law) was particularly pleased to be the winner of the Trimline Yacht Interiors Rose Bowl. having narrowly lost out two years earlier, when also helming the SYC boat. Magnus Marine 2 had to accept their 10% penalty and this enabled Magnus Marine 1 to avoid a full suite of last places.

Regatta
The overall winners of the regatta fought hard on both days to secure a clutch of first and second places that kept their net overall score sufficiently low to collect the Michal Leach Design ISS Regatta trophy. Team sponsors were the newly formed Penningtons Manches Cooper, sherpa63 and Ideaworks who were back after a year away and delighted to be the winners in the Superyacht Charities boat (SYC) having come second on their previous outing two years ago.

Finally…
The extra race on Saturday was a drag race to Cowes with Lateral Naval Architects collecting a bonus bottle of rum, gratefully provided by Magnus Marine 2 and a young man from Magnus Marine 1 getting a bottle of rosé for turning up in drag.

Honourable mention to AVRO Yachting who provided all boats with a hangover kit for Sunday containing all the necessary for crews to enjoy a Bloody Mary…cheers (We think they may have needed it the most.)

Another change this year was the beneficiary of our fund raising. In the past year the Superyacht Charities Foundation Action Fund has supported both St Tropez and Antibes lifeboats, the Rona Sailing Trust and Row for the Ocean. www.superyachtcharities.com. Just over £500 was raised through the raffle and sale of SYC lapel pins. Many thanks to all the participants from SYC.