Early Helm 1 & 2 Race Report

Published 15:27 on 23 Apr 2025

Saturday 12th of April

The first two races of the Early Helm series.

The wind was a chilly stubborn easterly gusting 8- 14 knots but the sun was shining and the sky was blue! The fleet of 10 boats set off for Copperas West to port, followed by a close beat across to Kiln and run back to Bowling, followed by another close beat back across to Copperas East before a lovely reach back to Quay to port.

The first start was closely contested but it was the YW Dayboat which found herself over the line. Andrew Buchanan in his Finn powered away and was first to round Copperas East with Mark Harper (Solo), Becky Manning (Laser Radial) and Simon Holcroft (Solo) in the chasing pack. James Pound, sailing for the first time in a borrowed Solo, sailed really well and was definitely getting the hang of the Solo and was always in contention with both Peter Binning (Solo) and Noel Wright (Solo) throughout the first race.

After 3 laps and about 50 minutes of racing it was Finn which took line honours but after the PY handicaps were applied first place went to Mark Harper (Solo 5836) and just 11 seconds behind and in 2nd place was Becky Manning (Laser Radial) and Stephen Holcroft (Solo 5867) in third place.

After a swift turnaround by RO Roger Puttock , and a slight change of course to get a couple of true beats in, the second race got underway with a clean start! This race became much more tactical.

After another 50 minutes of racing it was again Mark Harper (Solo) who was 1st, and this time edged out Sue Manning (Aero 5) who sailed an excellent race to finish 2nd with Stephen Holcroft (Solo) 3rd and Andrew Buchanan (Finn) in 4th place and Noel Wright (Solo) 5th.

Special mention to the YW Dayboat helmed by Ian Norman and crewed by Jean Mark - Morel who finished in a very respectable 6th place James Pound, who was now really enjoying the Solo finished just behind Peter Binning (Solo 5668) 7th and Nikki Buchanan (Solo 5432) in 8th place.