Capsize mayhem at club’s pirate regatta

It was capsize mayhem at Welland Yacht Club last Sunday.

The Lowland trophy is historically a light hearted regatta featuring a number of additional on-the-water tasks for the boat crews, coupled with a fancy dress theme, but this year the very strong winds meant the survival was the only thing competitors were worrying about.

With this year’s theme set as pirates, five boats took to the water for the first race but the strong gusts quickly meant the Charlotte Jackson (fresh out of retirement) and son Harry capsized on the start line, William Stabler and father Adam were finding the large Wayfarer too much to handle and ended up in the reeds downwind of the club and the RS Vision of Helen Boyd, Charlotte Stabler and Alistair Brighty were struggling with both the wind and the large amounts of weed, and retired during the first beat.

This left only two boats to complete the course, Mark Holland in his Laser Radial got to the front and stayed there all race.

The Laser 2000 of Neal (Blackbeard) Tack, Rebecca (Cutlass) Slator and Gail (Hearty) Follington followed Holland all the way round the course with a few visits into the weed thrown in.

The wind increased even more for the second race but despite this Alistair Mitchell in his Laser Radial joined the racing, Charlotte Jackson paired up with William Stabler in the little RS Feva and Adam Stabler competed in a Laser Radial.

This time all competitors got away from the start line but soon after the three Laser Radials got involved in a tangle which finished with Mitchell capsizing and Adam Stabler doing penalty turns.

This incident allowed Tack’s motley crew to pull clear and the Feva of Jackson and Stabler to move up to second.

All boats then worked their way through the weed on to the mile straight, which was a nice reach as the wind was blowing straight across, these conditions meant that the Laser Radials could gain ground and overtake the Feva, however all three suffered ‘knock downs’ at varies time which slowed their progress somewhat.

After the mile straight, all boats headed downwind on a very exciting broad reach and run, with the Laser 2000 pulling out a comfortable lead from Stabler, then Mitchell and then Holland, a short distance ahead of Jackson and Stabler.

These positions were held until the bottom mark, near the clubhouse, was reached.

Tack’s crew rounded successfully but all three of the Radials suffered multiple capsizes in the squall with only Stabler going on to complete the course.

Whilst this was happening the Feva of Jackson and Stabler negotiated the mark successfully and stayed upright to complete the course to take second from Tack and crew.

With the strong wind continuing it was decided not to run the third race and overall results were calculated on the two races.

With Tack, Slator and Follington being the only boat to complete both races they took a well deserved first place from Holland in second.

Jackson, Jackson and William Stabler took third spot from an ever-improving Adam Stabler who is beginning to tame the ‘exciting’ Laser having moved away from the ‘steady’ Solo.

Regatta winner Neal Tack and crew.

more >

Spalding man found guilty of attempting to kidnap girlfriend’s husband

18 Jul 2025

Pair look to land funds for charity

18 Jul 2025

Back to the 80s for air ambulance

18 Jul 2025

Deputy mayor asks residents how transport network should be improved

17 Jul 2025

Plans for 86-bed care home on Bull and Monkie passed

17 Jul 2025

Alleged attempted kidnapper from Spalding concedes he has ‘distinctive’ Yorkshire accent as co-accused chooses not to give evidence

17 Jul 2025