The final weekend of Horning Sailing Club’s 2021 season was sailed over the weekend 9/10th October, with a great turnout of boats on the water. With Saturday afternoon’s racing taking place on Hoveton Little Broad, the race team were greeted with a glassy still broad on arrival, although during the afternoon the breeze picked up to provide pleasant conditions in warm sunshine.

Meanwhile Sunday began much cooler and overcast, with very fluky light winds that meant setting courses was quite challenging! It also resulted in large splits in the fleets, with several boats managing to break free from the rest, the others congregating around turning buoys causing some congestion!

There were good numbers participating in most classes, the Yeomans and Dinghies particularly well attended with eight Yeomans and seventeen dinghies, including five Splashes as the Splash fleet continues to grow. In the Yeomans, Brian Baker in Tiger Moth took two wins on the Saturday, with Toby Fields sailing Tanskey winning four on the Sunday, whilst in the Rebels, Kevin Edwards in Rebel Maid won three races, the remaining wins split between Rebel Queen with two wins - helmed by both Kim West and Oliver Childerhouse respectively, and Rebel Rothay, helmed by Peter Brown. The Yare & Bures saw three wins going to Alastair Fields in Rosy Wave, with one to Lorraine Street in Brimstone, another to Clive Gardner in Hairstreak. In the Allcomers B fleet, Tallulah Reardon-Burr sailing her Splash took three wins, with Harrison Ryder and Lewis Green also winning a race each, along with Dan Herring in his Laser. Amongst the Toppers, Abbey Penny won three races, with Zia Gittins winning two, the remaining race going to Anya Gittins.

As the weather improved through the day and the sun made an appearance to provide a beautiful Autumnal afternoon, the final race saw several of the competitors (particularly the younger ones) switch boats for a different experience, and the traditional firing of the cannon to signify the end of the season when the last boat crosses the line. This meant that the dinghies were also competing to the be last boat to finish – with two, James Street (Topper) and William Woolston (Splash) crossing at exactly the same moment!

Trophies were also awarded for the top three finishers overall across all the races, with first place going to Toby Fields sailing his Yeoman Tanskey, second to Kevin Saunders in Cockatrice and third to Kevin Edwards in Rebel Maid. The Ladies Trophy for best performance by a female sailor over the weekend went to Tallulah Reardon-Burr sailing her Splash. You can see the full results on the website.

Hopefully the weekend provided a fitting end to an enjoyable season on the water – with many of the younger sailors continuing to sail until sunset after the conclusion of racing, it seems that it did.