Early Trophy Races 1 & 2 - Sunday 13th April

Early Trophy Races 1&2 - Sunday 13th April

Tropies being competed for

It's a sunny morning, but the fairly strong & gusty WSW forecast was quite a deterrent it seems. This being almost the opposite wind direction to the Early Helm races the day before, a very similar course would be quite different to sail.

Race 1 - Handicap class

2K, Aero & Firefly on the start line. Unfortunately, it wasn't too long before the Firefly succumbed to a nasty gust. Fireflies float low, so full of water the patrol boat came to the rescue. Mike Fitzgerald & Tim Dormer took the win in the 2K, Hilary Sparkes 2nd in her Aero 5.

Race 1 - SOLO class

7 on the start line & all very tight together. I gather it was quite challenging, even for these experienced helms. Some hair-raising gybes down at Bowling but the finish was still close with Mark Harper 1st James Pound 2nd - in only his second day of racing in a Solo, John Purdy 3rd

After some attrition from the first race, the wind was getting stronger & even more blustery. The same course - Kiln, Bowling, CE, Q - with those same challenging gybes to conquer...

Race 2 - Handicap class

Down to the 2K & Aero - with Mike Fitzgerald & Tim Dormer taking the win again in the 2K, Hilary Sparkes 2nd in her Aero 5.

Race 2 - SOLO class

Now down to 5 on the start line, but all very tight at the start again - not to mention so close to the line the RO was stressing a bit! After 2 laps, the finish was again very close amongst the lead boats with Simon Verrall 1st, Stephen Holcroft 2nd and Mark Harper 3rd.

Well done to all who went out - quite challenging conditions, with many a capsize reported - but sometimes that's all part of the fun.