Lucy Burton picked up two victories in Welland Yacht Club’s personal handicap pursuit series on Sunday.
In glorious sunshine, rounds three and four of the series attracted a healthy haul of 12 boats to the starting line.
The opening race was set to 60mins duration and the new junior members set off first, followed at timed intervals by the rest of the fleet, with the fastest boat class of Paul Burton last off some 20 minutes behind.
The idea of the pursuit is that handicaps are applied at the start to give staggered start times – the theory being that, after the hour is up, each boat should be at the same point on the water.
The light breeze and the emergence of the dreaded river weed slowed the youngsters’ progress, allowing the remaining boats to soon catch them by half way.
At this point, Lucy Burton had made her way into the lead, with Phil Robinson second ahead of Niall Holland in third.
Behind them, Paul Burton managed to carve his way up to fourth and continued to gain on those ahead.
With ten minutes to go, Burton senior was in second and trying to chase down daughter Lucy who would manage to maintain her position until the end of the race
That left Paul Burton to finish second, with Robinson keeping hold of third.
The breeze had picked up for the start of the second race allowing juniors Rosie Willerton, Freya and Samuel Willerton to get a decent start ahead of the pursuing fleet.
Lucy Burton again managed to get in front from close to the half-way point, with Neal Tack and crew Rebecca Slator second.
That’s how it stayed at the end, ensuring a pair of victories for talented youngster.
As the race progressed, Robinson would again find his way to third and the order would remain to the end.
This Sunday will see the series’ final two races – and with the mixture of previous results, overall victory is still up for grabs.
Anyone wanting to find out more about sailing should contact the club via email to [email protected] and somebody will get back to you.
