Boxing Day provided the sailors of Welland Yacht Club an opportunity to work off the Christmas Day excesses.
The weather was kind at the beginning with sunshine and a gently building breeze enough to encourage 12 boats onto the water to race for the Brass Monkey Trophy.
With the breeze blowing almost across the clubhouse and bank, it made start timing and positioning with the amount of boats a tricky affair.
It was Andy Agar in the OK dinghy who timed his run at the line best, closely followed by Gerri Van Haren in the larger Phantom dinghy and close behind him Alan Cox in the Laser full rig, all managing to get a clean start and out of the traffic that was struggling to get a breeze to take them away from the line on a tight reach.
As the boats made their way slowly past Shelly’s Bush Corner the change in river direction meant there was now a long and short beat, the front three managed to pull away, with Van Haren now in the lead and they were joined by Andy Prior in the Laser full rig, with two laps’ duration and no sign of the wind increasing this was going to be a test of patience.
By the time the front runners had rounded the buoy just beyond Chilver’s Corner, the rest of the fleet were strung out along the course with Eric Murray in the club Laser, Richard Stedman in the Comet, Neil Tack and Rebecca Slator in the Graduate, Helen Boyd, Scourfield and Adam Stabler in their Solos, with William Stabler in the Topper and Izzy Herring in the Laser 4.7 staying in touch.
Van Haren extended his lead in the second lap and pulled away from the group of Cox, Agar and Prior who were having their own race in the chase.
With the rest of the fleet strung out in the dying breeze it would be a matter of whether Van Haren could extend the gap he needed on handicap at the finish.
Van Haren crossed the line first after 40 minutes. Cox was just leading Prior at the clubhouse turn and had turning rights at the buoy, rounding first but tacked immediately and fell into a gap in the wind allowing Prior to sail through and claim second place across the line, with Cox following a minute later.
The rest of the fleet slowly made their way over the line and Boyd, sailing with a couple of Santa’s elves on board, crossed just ahead of Scourfield in a close Solo battle lasting over an hour for some finishers.
After the handicaps were applied, it was a well deserved win and a first for the season for Van Haren in the Phantom, with Prior 27 seconds behind in second place and Cox in third with Agar in fourth.
This race also counted towards the Frostbite Series run over 12 races and this was won by Prior with Van Haren in second and Eric Murray in third place.
Trophies were presented in the club house after racing and a Boxing Day spread was enjoyed by a good number of members, family and friends.
Anyone wanting to find out more about sailing should contact the club via email [email protected]
