Liz Lotz, proud owner of Swan 36 Shaytana, shares with us her experience at Womens Open Keelboat Championships (Royal Southern Yacht Club – Hamble River, UK – June 5^th -6^th 2021): “It was a mission to get Shaytana, my 1968 Swan 36 to the start line – works and Covid lockdown meant she was splashed back in four days before the regatta – which became our shake-down sail!  We are the RORC Ladies classic Team since my wonderful crew and boat are all ‘of a certain age’ ……
The regatta, which began in 2008, allows women of all ages to race competitively in a male free environment.  It mostly hosts J-boats (J80’s upwards) – which meant we were never going to keep up with them and their asymetric sails – but we make up for it in laughter!
Day one saw the wind build from 0 knots (great for kite practice as the ladies were all kind of rusty) to 20 knots – courses set around the Bramble Bank area of the Solent, we had 3 races – sadly having to retire from the 1^st  but finishing the others.  Our large  135% gennoa was heavily reefed by the end of the racing!
Dinner on the terrace at the Royal Southern and a raffle to support Breast Cancer (we did well at the prizes!) before retiring back to the boat for some fizz….sadly, due to Covid, no party.
Two more races on Sunday then back for drinks at the Yacht Club.  Another great weekend.