On Sunday 25th April a sunny but breezy Queen Mary's Reservoir played host to the Arrow Trophy Yacht Racing Association J/80 Spring Regatta. The 5-man crew consisted of Nick Pointon, Ted Peggie, Guy Impey, Bill Burnett and Skipper Peter Impey, with special mention to unfortunately injured Alistair Impey who was there for moral support and designated team photographer.

The format was 6 fleet races around a simple rectangular course with 8 teams competing. We couldn't have started the day off better, winning both the first and second race by comfortable margins. Unfortunately, our winning streak was ended by some confusing wind shifts on the upwind leg of the third race which saw us drop out of first place into fourth as we rounded the windward mark, therefore we annoyingly had to settle for fourth place.

The fourth race proved to be the most exciting of the races, we were in fierce competition with Norwich School throughout the race and as we rounded the leeward mark for the final time there wasn't much separating us, beating up wind towards the line we did all we could to try take first place but a near shave with the committee boat which was far too close for comfort, and a breach of the rules on the finish line meant we were disqualified. This left the standings rather tight at the top heading into the final two races.

We managed to return to our winning ways in the fifth race. The standings were announced just before the warning of the final race, we were joint first in the lead along with Norwich School and Shrewsbury School weren't far behind, this meant that we had to finish ahead of Norwich and within 2 places of Shrewsbury. Despite the pressure, we put in a faultless performance in the final race, leading all the way round both legs of the course and sailed smoothly across the line for our fourth and final win of the day.

It was a dampening moment when we realised the clubhouse bar was not open to celebrate our tremendous victory on the water, however, as we stepped off the boat, we were very kindly presented with a tankard for each crew member and even better still, a can of beer to fill our glasses. We happily sat out on the terrace enjoying our drinks reflecting on what had been a fantastic day of racing.

Overall, we were victorious and our 4 wins out of 6 put us comfortably at the top of the table with a net of 8 and total of 14. It was a brilliant all-round performance from the crew who barely put a foot wrong, but in particular, Peter Impey, the skipper, put in a brilliant shift on the helm.

Thank you to the OTSA and Nick Pointon for entering us into the Regatta, to all the teams that took part and a big thank you to Royal Thames Yacht Club for organising this great event, we look forward to getting back out on the water and competing for victory in the Arrow Trophy this October.

By Ted Peggie