Sailing on Sunday was for a new trophy to the club racing calendar since the incorporation of Witham with Welland – the Herbert Ingram Cup.
The weather was overcast. with a gentle breeze and rain, something that may have impacted the turnout numbers coming to the start line.
Six boats were on the water for the start and the wind was starting to build as they made their way on the short beat to round number one buoy.
It was Mark Scourfield in the Solo who chose the port end start, with Andy Prior in the full rig Laser inside of him followed by the Laser Radials of Alan Chapman, Alan Cox and Alistair Mitchell, with Ian Thompson in his Solo bringing up the rear of the group.
Prior passed Scourfield followed by Chapman, Cox, Mitchell and Thompson.
The run down with the wind behind allowed the bunching of some boats and it was the same running order as they approached the turning mark at four buoy, Prior just ahead of Scourfield, who, convinced that it was a port rounding, took the mark the wrong way and had to re-round after realising his mistake allowing Chapman to come through into second.
It was a tight reach back to Chilver’s Corner and Prior was able to pull away in clear wind as Chapman and Scourfield engaged in a tacking duel with Scourfield eventually getting past Chapman at Shelly’s Bush Corner with Mitchell just staying ahead of Cox in their tacking dual.
It wasn’t such plain sailing for Thompson however as a tiller mishap resulted in a swim for him, the only casualty of the day in the swimming stakes.
With the three-lap race now shortened to two, it was Prior who sailed away to cross first and Scourfield second, Chapman just ahead of Mitchell in a close finish, with Cox next, followed by Thompson who kept going after his swim.
When handicaps were applied it was Prior first, Scourfield second, Chapman third, Mitchell fourth, Cox fifth and Thompson in sixth.
With the wind dropping it was same course for race two but two laps only.
The start to the number one buoy provided fun and games as four boats closed in the rounding sequence and rights of way were shouted. A number of small bumps were heard which resulted in Mitchell not sure if he had infringed but he served penalty turns anyway.
Out of this and away were Prior and Cox on the run down but, after the melee at the buoy, the rest of the boats caught the front two as the breeze filled in from behind.
It was Scourfield who passed Chapman, Cox and Mitchell to get close to Prior all the way down to the turning buoy, taking it the right way this time to round in first, a boat’s length ahead of Prior, Cox, Mitchell, Chapman and Thompson.
On the tight reach back to Chilvers, Scourfield held off Prior but the wind dropped and he lost speed and drifted into the weed which has not been cut this year.
This allowed Prior to sail through and Cox to catch up on second place but Scourfield got going and these positions were held into the second lap.
As the wind faded on lap two, the positions remained the same but there was danger of falling into a wind shadow.
As rain started to fall and after an hour’s racing, Prior crossed the line first followed by Scourfield, Cox, Mitchell Thompson and Chapman.
After handicaps were applied Prior was a comfortable winner, Scourfield second and Cox third, Mitchell fourth, Thompson fifth and Chapman sixth.
This gave Prior the overall first place, followed by Scourfield, Cox and Mitchell third equal, Chapman and Thompson.
