Shaldon Regatta 2011
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The First Three Days
Shaldon Regatta got off to a wonderful, sunny start last Sunday with the official opening by Chairman Mark Pile being preceded by the Long-Distance Row from Dawlish to Shaldon. This event always brings out the top local rowing competitors and this year was no exception with the Chirney Cup for the first Men's Pair home being a battle between Tommy Stoyle & Ed Rawlings, who were in the lead coming up to the Sprat Sands buoy, and eventual winners Patrick Gaskin and Andy Darkin coming from third place to take the honours.
Sue Heath and Harriet Langworthy were the first Ladies home and shared the Gribble Trophy for first lady across the line as well as taking the main Sarah Jane Cup for Ladies Pair's, holding off the competition of Sue Astbury and Jane Stoyle. They also managed to beat the mixed pair of Chris Connell and Catherine Lovell who themselves took the Deborah Tosio Memorial Trophy for their efforts, having taken a close race with Felicity Rawlings and Simon Hallworth. The fun continued well into the evening for those having taken part as the Pimms flowed for the ladies and a plentiful supply of beer was on-hand for the men.
Various events over the next few days included the Amory Cup sailing out to sea, and Shaldon's Happy-Go-Lucky-Water Sports where many of the younger entrants showed their competitive spirit by undertaken a dip in the Shaldon Pool in perfect conditions on the top of the tide.
The keenly contested Beachrounders, played on Monday afternoon for the Simons Trophy, saw a record entry of seventeen teams battle it out over four hours in a cracking competition played in good spirits. The final was a fast, close affair between a team of regular visitors, the Wannabums, and the Dagmar Devils with the latter taking the victory.
The Beach Volleyball, played on Tuesday for the Mariners Weigh Shield, was fought-over in the same keen but fair spirit with local side, the Ferryboat Inn team, beating the those pink-clad Brummies by two games to one in one of the best finals seen for many a year.
Wednesday Thursday & Friday
Early conditions suggested a rainy, windy day but apart from a couple of small outbreaks of showers the sun shone and a small breeze made racing on the river that bit more interesting.
The first race of the afternoon saw boys and girls, aged 12 to 15 years, take to Regatta dinghies for the Cyril Extence Cup with Christian Holland taking the boys race and Sarah Stoyle the girls after some close fought battles in the harbour.
This was soon followed by the Premier Ladies rowing event of the event, the Alice Cup for single sculls, which was an exciting and close run affair, especially so as the two girls out front battling for the trophy were winning partners in Sunday.s Long-Distance row. So after two gruelling rounds of the course Sue Heath was a mere boats length ahead of good friend Harriet Langworthy as they rounded the last buoy to run along Shaldon beach, with Sue finally taking the line after managing that old River Teign rowers trick of making her boat a lot wider than it actually was!
After a good number of highly competitive races, including a number of cups up for grabs for the youngsters, the late-afternoon strong breeze and falling tide meant conditions for the rowers were always going to favour those with a bit of 'river knowledge'. And so it was proved in the Generation Cup when Ed Rawlings and his mother Felicity took the honours followed by Jane Stoyle and son Tommy. In the 'under-twelve' category Paul Edworthy was first over the line with daughter Jessica.
This was after the Back Water race saw the spectacular entry of James Stoyle in his 'illegal' craft, a somewhat squat dinghy described by commentator Steve Astbury as a bath... well, it certainly caused a lot of wash!
Further races took place as the sky became more overcast including a fine win for Robyn Burnham who beat all-comers to take the Janet Butterworth cup, a handicap race for those girls aged between twelve and fifteen years.
The last dinghy race of the day was the Mens Pair Oars for the John Pile Cup, John being one of the 'elder-statesmen' of the Regatta and it's Chairman. Again local knowledge and river-cunning was to play an important part in the race tactics as the tide and wind made conditions tricky. Ed Rawlings & Tim Fortune took the lead but were being closely followed by James Stoyle and Paul Edworthy. Coming down the last straight on the Teignmouth back beach side Paul and James decided on taking the shelter of the moored boats whilst Ed and Tim gambled on staying outside. A gamble which paid-off as they held off their competing crew ro take the cup.
In the evening an assortment of Seine boat crews took to the water for races in these craft with a chance for Veterans and Novices to enjoy some competitive racing in boats originally designed for seine fishing for salmon on the river. Many of the four crew and cox of each team added to the spectacle by dressing up in their team colours, especially those Old Bats, after which the ladies trophy is named. Special mention must go to the Matt Medwin coxed Old Dogs who not only won the Old Codgers Cup for those over fifty-five, but also managed to take second place in the event for the men over forty-five being beaten by the Wrinkly Rowlocks.
Thursday morning saw little wind, and plenty of drizzle, for the first of the Otter sailing races in the harbour, indeed it was taking more than the usual time to compete each race that the finals were held over until the Friday session.
The afternoon saw the second set of rowing races with a number of 'feature' events including the Frank Thomas cup, a handicap race for the more mature gentleman and which was won by that stalwart of the Regatta, Ray Edworthy who managed to hold of the advancing Bob Rawlinson. The Men's 'Blue Riband' event for the Cotgrave Cup was once again fought over by a couple of Stoyle brothers and Ed Rawlings with Ed ending up sandwiched between the winner Tommy Stoyle and James in third.
In the evening twenty-two teams took to the water for the Treasure Hunt by Boat with clues spread far-and-wide, from the shoreline on Teignmouth back-beach, up to Polly Steps and back to Shaldon. From here the crews had to take to land and answer those clues spread about the village. A close-run finish saw five teams finish within two and a half points of each other, the winners being Phil Bird's team, Bird is the Word, closely followed by Dave Skelton's crew Spider and the Flies.
On Friday morning the overcast skies and light showers at least allowed a slight breeze to blow across the harbour for the finals of the previous days Otter sailing races and the continuation of the day's event. Close racing was enjoyed by all especially for the Shaldon Ferry Trophy where a clash on the finishing line allowed for the first-ever dead-heat. The Wallace Mole Cup saw the two favourites, Drew Astbury and John Ball, battling it out for the Helms over forty-five with what commentator Chris Clarance described as 'nonsense between the two rounding that top buoy'. Drew managed to take the lead early on and hold of the challenge to take the line.
By the afternoon the weather was turning and light drizzle were replaced by cold rain for what is generally considered the most fun of the water-based rowing events, the Row and Motor series. First up was for the Pegasus Cup for the Men.s Pair, when the crew row a set of oars each as opposed to one either side and must carry a cox on the stern seat. Once again the strong pairing of Shaldon boys Ed Rawlings and Tommy Stoyle held off the Teignmouth challenge of Richard Shelston and Simon Hounsell. The Ladies event followed, for the Popkin Trophy, where Ed's mother Felicity took the honours rowing with Ed's girlfriend Emily McCoy.
The Nags Race for the Galli Trophy, rowers blindfolded whilst partners bellowed out instructions from the stern, saw Ed and Emily in a boat together and, rowing in perfect harmony, beat off the challenge of their friends James Stoyle and his wife Charlie. Brother Tommy Stoyle didn.t fare so well and at one point, having ploughed into the transom of a beached dinghy, he was heard to utter those immortal words to his partner Jodie; 'next time left means left and right means right!'
Various motor races took place with the Jack Matthews Trophy for the first Seagull outboard across the line going, as usual, to a member of the Deacon family. This time it was Aimee having obviously spent the winter race-tuning her engine in an effort to out-do her Father Bob who took second place.
As the weather started to worsen so the competitors kept going and a new event for the Regatta, Kayak racing took place near the end of the afternoon. What looked, from the shore, to be fun was, according to the racers themselves, anything but, with James Stoyle winning the Men's event and Kate Nicholls the Ladies race.
The Weekend
The sun shone on Saturday morning as both youngsters and 'older competitors' took to the beach for the Sandcastle competitions. As usual there was a wonderful array of constructions making the judges decisions quite difficult. Harriet Waring won a prize in the Under-fives with her wonderful shell-based castle whilst the family of Alan Jones, the Regatta treasurer took first place in the Adults section. It is believed he asked that their prize money be returned to the Regatta pot!
Whilst this event was taking place the serious sailors were taking to their various craft for the Jolly Boat Challenge Cup providing a colourful backdrop as they rallied off Shaldon beach. The usual names were in the frame come the finishing line with Rosemary Martin taking the honours leaving husband Tim trailing in third place.
The afternoon started with the Gig and Punt re-enactment when the lighter one-man crewed Shaldon punt chased the heavier multi-crewed Teignmouth gig around the harbour ending in the usual sinking to much applause from the spectators. A rousing rendition on the beach of their re-written song saw the boys disappear off for a well earned tipple.
Beach Sports for the youngsters then took place which was followed by the King Canute competition where teams of five, mainly children, where seen to build reinforcements against the incoming tide with the winners being those who managed to build the best looking fortress as well as keep the water at bay. This was quite a colourful, and frantic, spectacle with the building work taking up the whole of the shoreline from Clipper Quay down to the Ferry Shelter.
By the evening many of the Gig and Punt crew had recovered sufficiently to enter the Tug of War competition for the Challenge Shield where the well-honed Ferryboat Tuggers team beat-all challengers for the title, whilst the ladies battled it out for the Graeme Challenge Shield where a close-fought final saw Sandra's All-Stars take the final third pull to overcome the Ferryboat girls.
On Sunday the sailors went out to sea for a series of handicap races in which Rosemary Martin was once again victorious in taking the Class 2 honours after a hard won battle against another Shaldon sailing stalwart, Gilbert Gill whilst John Ball, a frequent Regatta winner, took the line honours in the Fast Handicap race.
Meanwhile on the beach mixed teams of males and females took to the pitch for the Five-a-Side Beach Football, a well-contested affair with the winners being awarded the Royal Standard Cup. Some fast and furious matches ensued with the eventual winners, captained by the injured Deano, where the Sandblasters.
In the evening the Seine boats made their second appearance of the week for a combined meeting with the River Teign Rowing Club. The three main races were keenly contested with the Eric Yeo Memorial Cup for those crews under-sixteen went to Four-in-a-Boat coxed by Kate Barzock, and the Dora March Trophy for the ladies crew went to G-Force, who also came second in the overall rowing club.s summer series. A surprise in the men.s race for the Charlie Bloor Trophy saw a .scratch. team made up of Chris Connell, Ed Rawlings with brothers Tommy and James Stoyle, ably coxed by Amanda Edworthy, win the event coming from well-back in the fleet to take the trophy. A barbecue afterwards allowed crews to discuss the tactics employed and bury any grudges held-over from the water!
Bank Holiday Monday
Bank Holiday Monday, and the last day, saw bright sunshine greet both competitors and spectators for the Beach Kricket. The usual closely-fought games saw a cracking final between the local Natives and the not-so-local Just-a-Bunch-of-Brummies. The Natives scored well getting twenty-two runs on the scoreboard leaving the Brummies a target of 23 to win. It was all level going into the final over when James Stoyle came into bowl against Lu Manning-Brown. The first ball sent down was short and Lu had no hesitation in thwacking it over short-square leg for the run needed to take the Lockyer Cup.
One of the main attractions of the weekend, the Pillow Fight, took place in the afternoon and the usual large crowds cheered on their favourites, whilst booing the villains. The Men.s event for the Mark Platt Memorial Trophy saw previous winner Ben Smith up against the might of Mark Radford when, after a ferocious battle and the score even at one-all, Ben pulled out his trade-mark sucker-punch left-right feather move, flooring Mark to take the trophy. In the Ladies event for the Sandra Surgenor Shield favourite Sarah Free found herself knocked out in the semi-final leaving Georgia Milfull to move into the final and put her name on the shield.
Following this event the Prize Giving took place when all the cups and trophies from the week were presented to their respective winners by local MP Anne Marie Morris, with emphasis on the last three awards being for the youngsters who, in the opinion of the committee, put up the best showing throughout the duration of the Regatta. The Clarance Cup for the young person under 18 years was awarded to previous year.s joint winner Matt Langworthy, the Hulbert Trophy for the youngster under 16 years went to Georgina Bayliss for the second year running, and the De Vey Trophy for the youngster under 12 years old went jointly to William Annall, taking over from his brother who had won it the previous year, and Jessica Edworthy.
Finally the Grand Draw was made with the winner being Stewart Binks who, after a frantic phone call as he was not on the beach at the time, decided on taking the money.
Chairman Mark Pile then went on to say that another wonderful Regatta was enjoyed in a sporting manner and was pleased to see an increase in the number of youngsters taking part, especially in the rowing races. This was partly due to the two new dinghies bought with grant money and the rowing lessons now given to the children off Shaldon beach. Mark then went on to thank the visitors who came down year-on-year without whom the Regatta wouldn.t be the same and gave special thanks to the draw ticket sellers who nearly sold-out the allocation this year. He then thanked the committee without whose hard work the event wouldn.t take place and all of whom work on a voluntary basis, along with various members of the community and others including local traders, friends and supporters in the village as well as the Ferry & crew. Mark also thanked the Sea Cadets who this year helped on a number of duty boats.
Well-known visitor and Seagull outboard guru, Bob 'long-shaft' Deacon then came up to thank Mark and the committee, with special thanks to all those 'behind-the-scenes' volunteers whose work often went unheeded and who made it easy for visitors such as himself to return year-on-year.
Mark then closed the Regatta and hoped everyone would return next year.