Suffolk Yacht Harbour Classics 2025
Three Stellas competed in the SYH Classics. Persephone, Lodestar and Lys of Slaughden. In sunshine and moderate to light winds on Friday and Saturday, and breezier on Sunday. And all the racing was very close.
Friday nights race is the only race where all boats sail the same course and have a joint start. First place went to Lady Elena, a Spirit 30, followed closely by Persephone, Lys of Slaughden, and Lodestar in that order.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Stella’s had their own start, and all the class starts sailed different courses.
The first race on Saturday was a beat out from Dovercourt Bay out to sea and back. It was perfect Stella weather; we were all excitingly close to each other all the way through. But Lodestar did find a groove and the final order was Lodestar, Lys, Persephone.
The second race was started at low water, in light winds. The racing had to be cancelled as the flood setting in was making it impossible for many of the boats to escape from the river.
On Sunday the wind was far brisker, and the course was set inside the rivers Orwell and Stour. It was very exciting, tacking into the Stour against a strong ebb, swapping places multiple times, and taking turns crossing each other’s bows on port and starboard. Lodestar managed to rip the foot off her spinnaker on the way out of the Stour, sailing within a boat length of Persephone all the way back up the Orwell. Lys found the ground unfortunately, which put them behind but not far. Persephone had got in front of Lodestar, and we were racing for the turning buoy near Pin Mill, Persephone turned, whilst Lodestar carried on thinking it was the next buoy – aagh! Lodestar’s navigator bravely stuck to her guns and was proved to be correct – and thus Lodestar was handed another win, Persephone second and Lys third.
Massive thanks, as ever, to SYH, for hosting this event, which is so much more than the Stella racing, with the Fast and Slow Classics, the Deben Cherubs, the Gaff class, and the spectacular Historic Motor Boats, and live music and fresh Pizzas, Gin and Tonics, and Beers, making this a fabulous long weekend extravaganza.
Aldeburgh Week 2025 – Stella Class – 17-22 August
The Stellas enjoyed a fantastic week in the sunshine at Aldeburgh Yacht Club. Four boats participated; Lodestar, Persephone, Polaris and Star Shell, the last two having their epoxy hulls newly completed prior to delivery to the Alde and looking very sleek. The Montgomery-Smiths once again made a heroic effort, sailing from the Medway and refusing to use their engine even on the delivery.
Courses were displayed on a board ten minutes before each start, and took a bit of decoding – “can anyone see that?” “white means green” (for colour-blind people), “where’s Pigpail?” and “did anyone bring a pencil, oh yes, take a photo!” Starts were generally running starts assisted by a fast-ebbing tide and all four were prompt to the line, spinnakers flying, giving close sailing to the leeward mark and spiced up by the Holman roll.
The course on day 1 included a turn around the elbow mark near the club, a rounding of mark C “Chapman’s Creek” and a return to the elbow, which became quite a tricky beat with the Lapwing fleet rounding the same mark in the opposite direction and multiple moored boats close by. The wind went light at that point, challenging a few of us to round it and leading to a close encounter between Persephone and Lodestar.
On day two Lodestar found incredible speed on the beat and looked as if she would win but was pipped at the post by Star Shell who won each of the first three days.
Day four was a day of course “issues”, with a couple of boats making “corrections”, but all enjoyed the close gusty reach up to Brick Dock, and Persephone won the day by default.
The final day brought an early start at 9.30am (to make way for the afternoon club medal races), which meant the tide was flooding and we also had a new light and shifty wind. Persephone took the port-hand side of the river which paid off and she retained her lead for the remainder of the race. Nigel Waller’s crew had been poached by the Loch Long fleet (on his Birthday as well!) and he sailed a fantastic race single-handed.
We thank Aldeburgh Yacht Club, who gave the Stellas a friendly reception, tasty food, a well-used bar, a very enjoyable All Classes Dinner (we had the biggest table), and took us out to our boats and back by launch service.
Juliet Dearlove
Stella Worlds 2025
It has been wonderful to welcome new boats and new owners.
Lys of Slaughden, *96 which was moved to the South Coast in 2018, was brought back to SYH late in 2024 and looked in great condition at SYH Classics 2025 under the new ownership of Ed Harvey and family and friends.
Star Shell *2 has been in Cornwall for decades, after being sailed to Turkey and back by the previous owners and then taken a back seat and languished ashore when they bought a new adventure, another wooden boat to sail back from America.
They contacted the Stella Association and decided that they would prefer to give her to the Association and hope that she would find a good owner, then let her take her chances on the budget boat market. Jonathan Dyke has taken her on and got her launched and sail-able in the nick of time to join in The Aldeburgh Regatta Week! The rebuild included sheathing.
Polaris, *99, which not that many years ago was a regular winner, based in Burnham, was sold, and sank, and came on hard times. Nigel Waller took her on a couple of years ago and likewise, got her launched in the nick of time to make The Aldeburgh Regatta, spending the evening after arriving attaching fittings and rigging her to take the spinnaker. The rebuild included sheathing.
Persephone, *6, has been a regular feature for all the time that we have owned Lodestar, since 2011, but this year she is under new ownership, Charles and Juliet Dearlove, who have taken her over from Juliet’s uncle. They have fitted a roller headsail and adjustable backstay.
And what has been really nice is that so far, every boat has had its day. On the first Friday of SYH, Lys and Persephone were dicing for first place, on the second day Lodestar got things right and managed first place.
At Aldeburgh, for most of the first race it seemed that Polaris had the heels of everyone else, leading from the front and then Star Shell nipped past them at the end, and both Persephone and Lodestar were left somewhat in the rear. Raising the spectre that this might prove to be a two-class event, with the sheathed boats always taking the lead.
Then in the second race Lodestar seemed to have the race in the bag, only also to be clawed back by Star Shell, and with Persephone coming in third it seemed that maybe things weren’t quite as one sided as all that.
And in the third race it was Persephone who came second to Star Shell
And then in the fourth and fifth races Persephone won, demonstrating that an unsheathed boat with a roller headsail can beat everyone.
Congratulations to everybody – at Aldeburgh dinner table there was talk of having eleven Stellas at SYH next year!
Results
