Helen Boyd won her first Regatta Trophy at Welland Yacht Club on Sunday, sailing her Solo to the Ralph Gibson Trophy.
A nice breeze blowing down the river gave them a decent ‘beat’ start to the first race and at the off Alan Chapman and Andy Prior were first away, followed by Mark Holland, all in Lasers. Boyd was slightly behind with Eric Murray bringing up the rear in the smaller Mirror dinghy.
Prior pulled out a small lead from Chapman but both boats unknowingly rounded the bottom mark in the wrong direction, which led to disqualification for both.
Holland suffered gear failure, which meant he had to retire after one lap. That left Boyd and Murray to complete the course to claim first and second places respectively.
The wind had increased slightly for the second race, which led to a capsize for Chapman seconds before the start. That left the door open for Prior to get a great start and pull out a good lead on the first beat with the other boats all locked in a tacking duel.
Chapman pulled clear from the chasing group but further capsizes allowed them to catch him again. By the first run Prior was comfortably ahead, but a poor gybe in the lee of Shelly’s Bush resulted in a spectacular capsize.
By the time Prior righted the boat, Chapman and the pursuing group had made up some ground but Prior still held the lead and extended it comfortably to take first place by almost five minutes from Chapman.
Boyd sailed an excellent race to finish only two-and-a-half minutes behind Chapman, which was sufficiently close to take second spot on corrected time by 13 seconds. Murray was fourth.
Patrick Corke joined the third race in his Mirror dinghy and it was him, alongside Prior, who got the best start. The much larger sail area of Prior’s Laser allowed him to pull clear but it took the other competitors most of the upwind leg to pass Cork’s Mirror. Boyd sailed especially well on the two reaching legs to stay within range of Chapman’s Laser and Corke was always in contention.
Positions stayed the same across the second lap with Prior pulling out a comfortable lead, which he held to the finish.
Chapman came in four minutes later and Boyd a further two minutes behind, which again gave her the second place by a handful of seconds from Chapman on corrected time. Murray again took fourth but Corke would have finished well up the field if he hadn’t gone round the last mark the wrong way and then retired.
Overall, that gave Boyd five points with two second places and a first, compared to Prior’s nine points from two firsts and the disqualification to give her a well-deserved maiden regatta win from Prior. Murray took a well-deserved third spot with Chapman fourth and Holland and Corke tying for fifth.
