Wins for Emma and Martin on windy day of action at Welland Yacht Club

Emma Agar and Martin Cook celebrated victories on a very windy day of racing at Welland Yacht Club on Sunday.

Some nine boats took part in the first race of the day, which was the third in the Sunday Points series.

A few of the adults opted to use some of the toppers left out from junior training.

With Paul Burton and daughter Lucy in their new double hander in preparation for the winter series, the start got under way with a few boats having rigging issues – with the pairing of Will Cook and Neal Tack not able to finish setting their boat up in time.

However, once under way, they soon caught up and – on the down wind sections with their spinnaker flying – managed to climb up to second on the water.

Despite her position in the fleet, junior Emma Agar was constantly keeping within handicap to the leaders, managing to stay upright in the strongest of gusts.

The RS Vision with Andy Agar and crew would eventually succumb to the gusts and capsize, too.

In the end, it was Emma Agar who took the win, with Paul and Lucy Burton second ahead of Cook and Tack in third place.

The afternoon was set to see the final two races in the Afternoon Points Series, which had already been taken by Tom Bell. But the second race was ultimately cancelled due to the wind.

The RS Vision took on an extra crew but, unfortunately, disaster struck when the outhaul broke and the main sail became loose – forcing them to limp back to the club house under gib.

Another boat forced to retire was that of Cook and Tack, when their main block became jammed and forced them also to limp back.

That left just three boats left on the water.

Even though carrying nearly twice its designed crew weight, the topper of Lucy Burton and Emma Agar remained competitive, keeping within handicap of the other two boats to the end. Once handicaps had been applied the final results were close with Cook taking first from Burton and Emma Agar, with Geri van Haren third.

This Sunday, Welland YC will be taking part in the worlds largest sailing event, the Barts Bash.

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