Trio all claim victories at windy Welland Yacht Club meeting

There were three different race winners on Sunday as Welland Yacht Club members competed across two different events.

Alan Cox claimed victory in the first race in the Sunday Points Series, with Mark Scourfield winning race two in the competition.

Attention then switched to the Autumn Points Series, with Eric Murray the winner of the final race of the day.

Before the sailing, the club held a two-minute silence and the flag flew at half mast to mark the passing of the Queen.

The seven boats were greeted by a breeze that blew straight across the bank, so a reaching start was the order of the day and timing the start proved to be important.

It was Scourfield in the Solo and Gerri van Haren in the bigger Phantom who did this, followed by Alan Cox (Full Rig Laser), Martin Cook (Solo) and Neal Tack and Rebecca Slator (Graduate).

As the wind filled in from behind, the leaders were caught and the leading boats went from first to last within 100 yards. It was Cox who benefited the most, drawing away followed by Richard Stedman (Laser).

However, van Haren caught up the leaders and it was he who crossed the line just ahead of Cox, with Scourfield third.

After handicaps were applied it was Cox who had pulled out a sufficient lead to win, followed by Scourfield and Cook.

The course remained the same for race two and it was Stedman who found some breeze to race away from the group, followed by Scourfield and Murray.

In this race places were won and lost easily once the tacking started and it was van Haren who rounded first, followed by Cox, Scourfield and Murray not far behind.

A speedy van Haren started to get clear from Cox and Scourfield but not far enough to secure the win, as the wind came and went, it and allowed Scourfield to take the victory from Cox and van Haren.

A course change for the third race meant the five boats would have more to think about. With the race the shorter, boats were quite tightly grouped and all finished within three minutes of each other.

After 40 minutes of racing it was Cox who crossed the line first followed by Scourfield in second and Stedman third.

Once the handicaps were applied it was Murray came out on top followed by Cox and Tack and Slator.

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