Paul Burton enjoyed overall victory amid almost perfect conditions in Welland Yacht Club’s final June regatta on Sunday.
Held on a bright and warm day with a north easterly breeze blowing at around 14mph, some ten boats lined up for the start of the first of three races that were expected to be competitive.
The starting line was very congested as all the boats vied for the best spot – and Alan Cox (Laser) suffered an unfortunate capsize with just a minute to go, causing the other boats to set themselves again.
The windward mark was only a short sail away and the Europe of Roz Nickols made it first, closely followed by Burton in his Solo.
Cox and Brian Cobb (Europe), together with the remainder of the fleet, then ran with the wind behind them to the fifth mark before starting the upwind return leg.
At the end of the first circuit the fleet had spread itself out. Cox and Nickols were neck and neck, with the lead swapping on almost every tack.
Burton was close behind in third, with Geri Van Haren in the Phantom fourth.
As they rounded the windward mark for the last time Nickols found some extra breeze and pulled out a lead of several boat lengths leaving Cox and Burton to fight it out for second.
At the end of the second leg Van Haren made up a lot of ground and finished first across the line, followed by Cox and Burton.
Under handicap, Burton was close enough to take the win, with Nickols second and Cox third.
For the start of the second race, the wind was up and the fleet were being hit by regular strong gusts making it difficult for the boats to maintain their starting positions.
Burton, Cox and Cobb all crossed the line within seconds of each other.
At the windward mark, Cobb had dropped back a couple of boat lengths allowing Cox to round the mark first with Burton on his tail. With the stronger winds, the pair soon opened up a good lead on the remainder of the fleet.
At the downwind mark Cox had pulled out a sizable lead on Burton, with Cobb and the double handed Graduate of Neil Tack and Rebecca Slator fighting out for third and fourth.
The Toppers of Robinson and Woolridge took a lap time and didn’t do the second lap.
At the final upwind turn Cox still led but Burton had closed the gap, while Cobb had moved into third with Alistair Mitchell’s Laser in fourth, closely followed by the pairing of Tack and Slator.
On the final downwind leg Cox capsized, allowing Burton into the lead. Cox was able to recover quickly, but not before Cobb and Mitchell had closed the gap.
At the finish line Burton finished first followed by Cox, Mitchell and then Cobb.
Once handicaps applied Burton held on to his win from Robinson and Cox.
The fleet was reduced to six boats for the third and final race after a number of competitors retired.
Once again, the start line was hotly contested with the boats of Burton, Cobb, Tack and Cox fighting for the perfect starting position.
Nickols, having had issues rigging her boat, started well behind the other boats.
Burton and Cox made the windward mark first, but the remainder of the fleet was hot on their heels.
An infringement by Burton required him to make some penalty turns, allowing Cox to pull away.
At the first turn the boat places remained unchanged, but by the next turn Nickols had made her way through the fleet and turned in second place.
On the final run home Cox had a substantial lead and, despite a capsize on top of the finish line, still crossed well ahead of the fleet.
Burton came in second with Mitchell and Nickols in third and fourth, just ten seconds apart.
Cox held onto his win under handicap, with Burton second and Nickols third.
Overall victory went to Burton, with Cox second and Cobb completing the podium.
