27/06/2026
Broadstairs Open Broadstairs Sailing Club

 by Jonny Fullerton

Eighteen boats from local clubs Margate YC and Downs SC and visitors from as faraway as Up River YC joined a growing fleet of Broadstairs SC Streakers for a steamy hot weekend in the popular coastal town of Broadstairs on the Kent coast.

Ironically, Broadstairs SC and Up River YC are celebrating their 90th year anniversary.  Many classes have come and gone over the years but the Streaker Class seems to be the go-to boat in this corner of the Kent coast with sailors from all age groups and size including a growing fleet of female sailors.

The South East coast was in the midst of a heatwave which also seemed to kill off any chance of the local sea breeze forming on Saturday, despite the patience of PRO Doug Spooner who postponed racing for around 3 hours in the hope of the light wind patches all joining up to give the minimum of wind conditions to sail.  However it was not to be, so the majority of the sailors and volunteers retired to the club bar and balcony overlooking the Broadstairs riviera for liquid refreshments and the legendary BSC cakes!

After a cool down in the shower, sailors were treated to a gourmet meal of Lasagne and Salad with a good helping of Apple Strudel.  By late evening it was lights out in preparation for a four race day on Sunday morning to catch up on the schedule.

Sunday morning duly delivered with a very shifty and gusty breeze ranging from 13 - 18 knots and more in the gusts coming from anything from South to SW to West.

It made life quite challenging for the Race Management & Patrol Boat Crews to set a good course but with a bit of mark shifting, it transpired that the class-preferred course of a quick hitch followed by a sausage and triangle x 2 was the order of the day.

With a 1000 hrs start the first race of the day was quite a tactical challenge to judge with a building breeze coming in strong offshore gusts causing a lot of boats to go for an early dip.  The form for the day was rather set with host club sailor Lee Goodey taking the gun followed closely by BSC rival Dave Adams in second.  Third to cross was one of the visiting sailors from Up River YC, Ian Gore.

The testing conditions saw a few retirements including the youngest competitor at the regatta, BSC sailor Henry Hodge who was sailing the Streaker in his first regatta and was highly praised for his tenacity in getting round the course.  Needless to say he still had a grin on his face when returning to shore.

The second race followed swiftly after in similar conditions.  Another clean but compact start and although places changed throughout the fleet, mainly blamed on the tidal flow(!), the same three boats finished on the podium but in the reverse order.  Ian Gore followed by Dave Adams with Lee Goodey having to battle back through the fleet following an early capsize at the first mark.  Mark Longstaff from BSC sailed a blinder to finish in 4th just behind the race leaders.

The course was brought in a bit as sailors began to tire and race 3 of the day got under way.  The same three lead boats battled round the course but places changed often, largely caused by judging the tide and when to tack on the upwind legs.  It was back to the original 1,2,3 with Lee Goodey regaining the overall lead with another race win, followed by Dave Adams and Ian Gore.

Just behind the lead boats a good race for Ben Harris finishing in fourth and Tim Harris in 5th.

Numbers were depleting for the final race of the day as sailors young and old, began to struggle to hike in the ever increasing gusts.  But the final race of the day shuffled the pack with four boats judged to be OCS including the top 3 boats overall.  Of these the only boat to return to start correctly was Lee Goodey, Dave Adams and Ian Gore had to carry maximum points.

The race did become a bit of a war of attrition however but local knowledge seemed to benefit Lee Goodey as he fought back lap by lap to just take the final race win and with that, overall victory in the regatta.

Ben Harris and Matthew Pickett, another visitor, sailing one of a few wooden boats at the regatta, traded places to take second and third place in the final race.

So with one race drop, Lee Goodey won overall with 3 wins, dropping a 3rd. Dave Adams 2nd overall with three seconds and Ian Gore a well deserved 3rd overall with a scoreline of 3,1,3.

Other notable performances were Deborah Thomas (BSC) one of the female sailors who persevered to finish all races including a superb 5th in the final race.

Visitors Ben Harris, Matthew Pickett, Tim Harris, Phil Halldron and Rob Powell for consistently finishing all races and local BSC sailor Mark Longstaff for his sound 6th overall.

All returned ashore a bit frazzled with aching muscles but that sailing feeling of a great weekends fun on the water.

On receiving their gongs, winning Streaker sailors thanked Broadstairs Sailing Club for excellent race management, tiresome patrol boat crews, some great food and hospitality which the club is renowned for.  As usual nothing happens without the volunteers.

Streaker sailors now look forward to the Streaker Nationals at Sunderland YC from 10 - 12 July.

Overall Results: