In the days leading up to the 11th Dieppe Dash, there was some anxiety among the organisers about whether the wind would be too strong, according to some forecasts. However by the night before, the forecast had settled to a predicted force 5 from the west.
31 boats had entered but inevitably some dropped out. In the end, 22 boats – 11 racing and 11 rally boats – succesfully made their way across the Channel, all arriving at a very respectable time, the last boat coming in to harbour around 7 pm BST.
Many of the racing boats had managed to have a spinnaker up some of the time. The first to arrive was Redeye, who came first in the IRC race, with Temptress coming second and Kokomo third.
The NHC race was dominated by French boats with Bigaro II coming first, and Foule Sentimentale coming second. Summation came in third.
The wind died overnight and Saturday was a pleasant day with intermittent sunshine and plenty of opportunity to explore Dieppe. Les Douanes, customs and border control came to the yacht club on Saturday morning to admit everyone to the Schengen area. They were very helpful and agreed to meet crew from those boats that were leaving on Sunday morning at 7am near the top ofthe ramp from the pontoons.
We were made very welcome in the yacht club and the organisers received lots of very positive feedback from happy sailors. Boats returning home on Sunday and Monday had rather less wind then when they arrived, with most using the engine at some stage.
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