An impressive 13 boats took part in the Carl Bilbie Pursuit Trophy at Welland Yacht Club in blustery conditions on Sunday.
A pursuit race sees handicaps applied before, rather than after, the race, meaning the slowest boat sets off first and the quickest last. The 60-minute race is therefore decided on the water.
First away was the Comet of Alistair Brightey with the Laser Radials of James Ramp and Alistair Mitchell next, then only three second later Eric Murray set off in the wooden Solo followed by the more modern ‘FRP’ Solos of Mark Scourfield and Helen Boyd.
Neal Tack and Rebecca Slator followed in their Laser 2000, with Andy Prior and Adam Stabler, in full rig Lasers, and Andy Agar in his OK, next away.
The much quicker Lark of Paul and Emma McGuire, the Kestrel of Jorit and Toby Schrauwers set off with the Phantom of Jerri van Haren last away.
Scourfield led the way, followed by Mitchell then Prior. Ramp retired at the end of the first lap as the wind increased.
On the second lap Boyd and Murray capsized with Boyd retiring.
Prior got past Mitchell and had closed right in on Scourfield but struggled to negotiate the top mark and capsized on the second attempt, allowing Mitchell past.
Agar suffered a boat failure and had to be towed back but en route became tangled with van Haren’s Phantom.
The three leading boats started their third lap and Prior passed Mitchell again and closed the gap to metres on Scourfield but as the 60 minutes passed Scourfield took first, with Prior second and Mitchell third. Tack and Slator were fourth Stabler fifth, van Haren sixth with the Maguires completing the race to take seventh from Agar in eighth.
The Kestrel of the Schrauwers had to retire near the end with gear failure.
The wind increased for the second race, prompting a number of sailors to withdraw, leaving seven boats.
In this race the fleet compressed much quicker with the two lasers quickly catching the Laser 2000 but as Prior dipped behind the back of the Laser 2000 he caught the full force of the wind, causing a capsize.
Scourfield rounded the top mark first and quickly started planing, unfortunately Prior did not get out of the way quickly enough and was hit by the Solo, resulting in another capsize.
The Laser 2000 then had nowhere to go and ran into the back of the stricken Laser. That allowed Mitchell to round in second but Stabler could not get round quickly enough and also capsized before drifting to the bank.
The now upright Prior rounded the mark next but like Scourfield instantly got on the plane and failed to miss Stabler.
Despite hitting the boat square on at high speed, no damage was done with one boat flying over the other. Both helms righted their boats and sailed down the mile straight at high speed in chase of the other boats.
Stabler was hit by a strong gust and broached into the wind and capsized.
By the end of the first lap Scourfield had a big lead, which he kept to the finish untroubled. Prior caught both Tack/Slator and Mitchell to take third spot from Mitchell with the Laser 2000 fourth.
Stabler righted his boat to finish fifth from the Lark of the Maguires. Schrauwers’ Kestrel finished seventh.
The third race was not raced, leaving Scourfield first, Prior second, Mitchell third, Tack/Slator fourth, Stabler fifth, the Maguires sixth and the Schrauwers in seventh place.
