Clockwise from top left:
The Stella Lodestar; winner of the Fast Class
and overall winner on Arrow Phil Plumtree
(with cup) and crew Luke Wyburn (left),
David Mallet (centre); West Solent One
Design Arrow; winner of the Stella class
Stardust; Spirit Flight of Uff ord; Cereste and
Samurai; the 2016 T-shirt; Tumlare design
Zest, third overall and fi rst in Slow Class;
8-ton Gauntlet Bardu, owned by Classic
Boat art editor Peter Smith; the
International 8-Metre IfCLASSIC BOAT SEPTEMBER 2016 51A
rriving in Suffolk Yacht Harbour on the
fl oodtide from the River Blackwater on a
calm Friday evening, my crew and I aboard
our 1951 8-ton Gauntlet, Bardu, felt
instantly welcome. We were moored up at the lovely
marina at Levington on the north side of the River
Orwell, where the 2016 Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classic
Regatta was getting underway.
The event, now in its 15th year, is run by Suffolk
Yacht Harbour, in association with Haven Ports YC,
and we were surrounded by 47 boats well representing
the past 100 years of yachting. It was fantastic just
walking round the pontoons. The good ship Bardu is
more used to the cruising life than anything involving a
start line, but we were looking forward to two days of
racing with this fl eet, and a few refreshments in
between. We were welcomed by the marina’s MD
Jonathan Dyke, who not only hosts the weekend, he
races as well, sailing his 40ft, 10-ton Robert Clarke
design Cereste, built in 1938 in Shoreham.
A race briefi ng the following morning, led by race
offi cer Peter Martin in the Harbour Room, one of the
marina’s many recent developments, paved the way for
the fl eet to leave and to make its way to the start line in
Penny Hole Bay, a stretch of water well outside and to
the south of the commercial port of Felixstowe Harbour.
Very light winds meant many engineless boats, like the
Tumare Zest needed to be towed.
The racing was divided into three race starts. Over the
line fi rst were the Stella class and from where we were
placed, getting ready for our start, it looked very
competitive. Stellas are popular on this coast.