Easter Junior Championships 2026
Published 14:18 on 13 Apr 2026
A mixed offering on the weather front for the opening junior championship event for 2026.
Day 1 came with a blustery easterly breeze, forecast mid teens gusting early twenties - great to blow off the winter cobwebs.
Escort afloat on station, with AP raised as the fleet seemed a little shy to come out to play on time, the first race getting under way 5 minutes late, both fleets were away enjoying the fresh breeze with many taking an early bath.
Unfortunately things began to unravel very quickly.... One patrol boat broke down and had to be rescued by another, then another patrol boat had to go to the aid of Escapade which was in difficulty, leaving just two patrol boats, with now some strong 20+ gusts coming down the course. There were multiple capsizes then a broken mast which tied up another patrol boat, leaving just one patrol boat on the course with 20+ boats. Racing was abandoned.
Thankfully, all crews and boats made it safely ashore, the only casualty a broken mast.
Day 2 - what a difference a day makes . too much wind to too little.
All afloat in one race area, with the regatta fleet coming out with the main fleet for the first time.
The light air held for the first race, and the beat was shortened for race 2 to try to squeeze in an extra race, but the fading wind had other ideas. For race 3 we shortened the beat further, only for the Fevas to start grounding near the windward mark, making it just a single lap race.
On the way back to the Club a number of sailors found that in the shallow waters, it was quicker to jump out and push their boat home!
Day 3 - with a tidal prediction of just 3.6m and forecast northwesterly winds of late teens gusting mid twenties, an early call was made to cancel the last day's racing on the Wednesday evening. In our sport we can't control the wind or tides - sometimes we can adapt or compromise, on other occasions we simply have to accept the conditions, take a step back and let a race go.
Post-script .. isn't hindsight a wonderful thing. The tidal height came in at 3.9m and winds were westerly at 15-20 until just after 17:00 hours when they rose to 26 knots gusting 34. We made the right call!
A huge thank you to all those who supported the event, both afloat and ashore.
Results are being kept under wraps until the prizegiving at the Spring Junior Championship in May.
Rob, Hailey & Brian