Two boats and a team of ten people from Welland Yacht Club entered the Ferry Meadows 24-hour race at the weekend – and they returned home with well-deserved second and third places.
The racing started at 3pm on Saturday and finished at the same time on the Sunday – with the winning team being the boat that completed the most laps after handicaps were taken into consideration.
The two Welland boats chose to change crews every two hours, with many of the team’s members doing two hours on and then two hours off.
On the water, the racing was dominated by very light winds and warm temperatures – with progress painfully slow at times.
Indeed, at one point the boats were only managing to complete one lap in a two-hour shift.
In total, ten teams took part with the winning boat being a Supernova coming from the home club.
Welland’s Laser team – crewed by Andy Prior, Andy Agar, Tom Bell, Paul Burton, Gail Follington and Gerri van Haren – came second, having completed 76 laps.
The RS200 team crewed by Tom Bell, Lucy Burton, Paul Burton, Katie Follington, Andy Prior, Gail Follington, Richard Stedman, Alan Cox and van Haren was just behind in third.
The RS 200 team completed the same 76 laps as the Laser, but they were separated by the fact that the Laser completed its last lap ahead.
The annual event was organised to raise funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).
Because of Welland’s participation in the event, there was no club racing over the weekend.
- If you would like to find out more about sailing, contact the club via email at [email protected] and somebody will be in touch.
