Ullswater Regatta
Published 13:25 on 8 Aug 2026
The 2026 Ullswater Regatta will certainly be remembered by its contrasting weather conditions. Survival tactics on Saturday in a very gusty and shifting westerly breeze followed by light winds sometimes dropping below 1mph.
So in many respects it was a regatta of 2 halves for the 20 boats who competed on one or both days..
Saturday certainty kept the safety boats busy with several boats over at any one time and the majority of the fleet swimming at some stage, even the VX's were broaching. It's fair to say that James has now got his capsize recovery off to a tee and in general, high-speed gybes were very good to watch. 3 cruisers raced on Saturday and mixed well with the dinghy fleet.
The starts were very keenly contested and the lines were packed at the committee boat end with some close calls for the race teams and one or two recalls as a result.
It was a clean sweep of race victories for the Musto Skiffs of Mike Matthews and Danny Boatman who were very quick around the course and showed masterly control of their craft. They were followed on the water by the VX fleet who were led around by Felicity Robson and Lester Noble. It was a day for the slower boats to grind out some results and the Finn of Phil Laycock and ILCAs of Andy McAlea and Tim Whitehead kept themselves in touch with the leaders on handicap.
Sunday saw a 2-hour postponement and racing didn't get started until 13.00 when a light breezed filled in from the South. The Musto Skiffs sat out the first race of the day (race 4) and in light airs Phil Laycock's Finn took a port flyer and held off the fleet to lead round the windward mark closely followed by Felicity and Phil in the VX. They held their positions down the run with the rest of the fleet very much spread out. Lap 2 was a very different scenario and the VX found some nice breeze while the Finn sat in a hole, overtaken by John and Jason's VX and being rapidly overhauled by the chasing boats. Felicity won the race eventually by some considerable margin with Phil clinging onto 3rd on handicap overhauled at the end by the ILCA radial of Andy Mc who took 2nd place on handicap.
It was same again in race 5 with the Finn taking a port flyer and competing at the windward mark with the Vxs and the Lightning of Julie Archer who also nailed the start and went right up the beat. It was very tight. The wind died on the run and it was anybody's guess where the wind was as the fleet all drifted to the leeward mark with the VX of Felicity and Phil leading the way together with the Musto Skiffs who had decided to join in race 5.
The majority headed right up the beat where the best wind has been but John Robson and Jason in the VX headed left followed by the Finn and tacked onto a lovely port shift that carried them to the mark ahead of the rest of the boats. That was the race winning move but they hadn't countered on the speed of the Lightning and Julie kept pressing hard followed by the ILCAs.
The wind dropped shortly after the leaders finished and as the clock was ticking, it was getting very close to call. Julie had done enough on handicap to take the race from Phil in the Finn with Andy McAlea in the ILCA 6 coming in 3rd.
John Abbatt and his team on Peggy tried to start a 3rd race but the majority of boats were even struggling even to make the start line. Shouts were heard from competitors across the fleets to abandon the race and after 6 mins, with half the fleet still behind the line, the call was made and the boats headed home.
It was going to be close and competitors were waiting anxiously for the results and prize giving not sure who had finished at the top.
Phil Laycock, Sailing Secretary, did the prize giving and began by thanking John Abbatt and his team for a great weekend racing. It was precision race management at open meeting standard and 5 really good races.
The first cruiser prize was awarded to Steve and Jane King in their Beneteau First 25.7 who had two 6th place finishes and ended up 9th overall.
After a discard the top 3 boats were separated by only 1 point with 3rd and 2nd on the same points separated on countback only.
3rd place went to Phil in the Finn, presented to him by Phil Noak
2nd place went to Felicity Robson and Phil Hodgkins in the VX
And the winner was Andy McAlea in his ILCA 6 (Laser radial)
Who, was very consistent in all wind conditions and somewhat reluctantly (being a modest chap) was forced to make a winner's speech; we suspect the first of many.
Phil Laycock
Last updated 13:25 on 8 August 2026