Following a lively Friday evening Champagne Taittinger Reception party on the waterfront lawns of the RSYC in Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, the first day of racing in the 16th edition of The Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta (12-14 July) on Saturday arrived with thick, low cloud and a shimmering haze blanketing the Western Solent delivering zero breeze.

Wisely, the regatta’s Race Management team postponed racing for the 188 competing boats by one hour and shortly before 11.00hrs, a bright blue rip in the cloud layer began to open over the centre of the Solent and westerly breeze funnelled in through the Needles Channel, first reaching the White Group (94 boats) starting area to the west of Lymington River and trickled on towards Black Group (94 boats) to the east of the river’s mouth.

Matthew Jones and his crew of Folkboat Crackerjack, based at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club, have been racing together for – they estimate – 30 years and have missed only two Taittinger RSYC regattas. “If one of us can’t sail, we don’t sail,” Jones comments and this approach to team work consistently pays off for Crackerjack. “It’s extraordinary how conditions differ from the Mainland shore and the Island shore,” Jones adds and many of the White Group classes developed north-south splits during the two races on Saturday.

“We messed up on the start line on the second race,” Jones admits. “The Folkboat fleet is very competitive and you really can’t make mistakes, but we’ve had a lovely weekend.” Nonetheless, Crackerjack took the 19-strong Folkboat class overall with a 1-5-1 scorecard. To make this victory even sweeter, Crackerjack was the class-winning boat pulled out of the hat to win a holiday at the Edelweiss & Gurgl Hotel in the Ötztal Alps; a seven-night, half-board stay for two persons sharing the luxury hotel’s 1889 Panorama Suite.

Meanwhile in Black Group, father-and-son duo Michael and Sebastian Blair and the highly-motivated crew on the Royal Thames Yacht Club’s King 40 Cobra were in their element as the westerly breeze  grew from 8-13 knots with a flooding tide over the two races on Saturday: “There was some really tough opposition,” explains Sebastian. “Luna is extremely good, then there’s Sunrise and Dawn Treader which are both exceptional boats,” adds Michael of the 19-strong IRC 1 fleet. “We just used very clever tactics and we’ve managed to win just about everything this year,” he continues. Cobra won the class overall with 1-4-1 score. “We really enjoyed the regatta and this is a tremendous club,” added Sebastian at the prizegiving on Sunday.

Despite some classes spending six hours out on the water during the first day of racing, none of the teams were prepared to miss the regatta’s keynote party on Saturday evening at the landmark property adjacent to the RSYC. This year’s Towers Party featured music from a world-class line-up including The Blue Water Giants with members of Status Quo, Tears for Fears and Procul Harum; John Summerton, lead singer with Herman’s Hermits; The White Gates Band; Uke Can’t Be Serious; Jack Russell and Step on the Gas featuring the party’s host, John Caulcutt with Baz Parsons Smith, both of whom played at the original Towers Party 59 years ago.

Image: Tim Jeffreys

This year, a record £85k has been raised for the Towers Party’s chosen charities Cure Parkinson’s and the Motor Neurone Disease Association; an astonishing total boosted by a substantial and generous donation from a local yachtsman and regatta competitor. On top of hosting an outstanding party, Caulcutt and the crew of Puffin won the seven-boat Yarmouth One Design (YOD) class overall.

For Sunday’s single race, ten knots of SW breeze kept the majority of boats close to the Mainland shore. At last year’s regatta, J112E Happy Daizewon IRC 2 with only one race completed due to ferocious weather conditions. This year, however, the RORC yacht won the 16-boat class with three bullets: “It’s been another classic weekend of racing,” said the boat’s mainsheet trimmer, Cameron Henderson, at the event’s prizegiving, but it’s not all about racing for the team’s predominantly Weymouth-based crew. “The champagne reception of Friday was great and, as usual, the Towers Party was epic!”

In the 17-boat IRC 4 fleet, Toby Gorman’s Sigma 33 Stan the Boat won the class overall with 2-3-1.5 scorecard fending off fierce competition by a duo of Royal Southern Yacht Club boats; Ian Handley’s Mustang 30 Banter (3-2-3) and Sam Cox’s Corby 25 Liquidity Risk 2 (4-4-1.5). Stan the Boat also won the 2.3HP Honda outboard engine donated by the regatta’s supporting sponsors, Wight Marine and River Yar Boatyard. “This regatta is the highlight of the year,” said a delighted Gorman at the regatta prizegiving. “We’ll always come back!”

Fresh to the role of the RSYC’s Rear Commodore Sailing, Nick Bradley handed the keys of his Contessa 32 Merak II to his son for the regatta and watched the action from a RIB and Race Committee boats. “I’m overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of skill, talent and commitment I’ve witnessed racing at this regatta,” comments Bradley. “The opportunity to step back from actively racing and watch the crews was a true pleasure. I’m also really impressed by the proportion of boats with younger crews,” he observes. “This feature has to be good for the sport generally and also a bonus for the Taittinger Regatta,” Bradley adds. “We’re also very lucky at the Royal Solent with access to an immense pool of experienced Race Management personnel running the regatta out on the water and behind the scenes ashore,” he explains.

In bright sunshine at Sunday’s prizegiving on the waterfront lawn of the RSYC, Charles Wallrock of the Royal Lymington Yacht Club racing his Ranger 9.9 Juvita in NHC B was confirmed as overall winner and awarded a jeroboam of Champagne Taittinger while one of the regatta’s hardworking volunteers, Adam Preece, won the three magnums of Champagne Taittinger and a hot air balloon ride in the Champagne Taittinger prize draw where everyone who purchased a Taittinger baseball cap had their names put in a hat. All funds from the draw will go to disabled yachtsman, Geoff Holt’s, Wetwheels Foundation with over £1,700 raised so far. Furthermore, £1,200 was raised for the RNLI at Friday night’s Champagne Taittinger Reception.

Dates for the Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta 2025 are Friday 4th – Sunday 6th July.

Results for the 2024 Taittinger Royal Solent Yacht Club Regatta are at
HalSail Results (kxcdn.com)

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