Consistency was the key for Paul Wilson on Sunday as he won Welland Yacht Club’s Carl Bilbie Regatta.
Among a big field of 19 boats for three pursuit races (based on personal handicap), a second place and two thirds were enough to secure him the overall crown.
Pursuit racing sees the handicap applied at the start of the race to give differing start times; the theory being all boats should be very close to each other at the end of 60 minutes.
First to set off was junior Joseph Seabourn in an Optimist, then at 11.10mins three more juniors – Connor Clarke, Christopher Seabourn and Jack Follington (all in Toppers) joined the party.
Katie Follington (Topper) was the final junior to start on 12mins, followed by: 18.00mins Lucy Burton (Byte), 19.50mins Paul Wilson (Solo), 21.00mins Martin Cook (Solo), 21.10mins Ian Dignal and Richard Stedman (both Laser), 22.00mins Andy Agar and Gail Follington (both Laser Radial), 22.10mins Alan Cox (Laser Radial), 22.20mins Mark Holland (Laser), 23.20mins Paul Burton (Solo), 23.40mins Phil Robertson (Laser), 24.20mins Geri van Haren (Phantom), 24.50mins Tom Bell (Laser) and finally at 25.10mins Will Cook and crew Emma Hill (Scorpion).
Once all boats were away, the fleet headed up river to the top mark – each trying to pass the boat in front without being passed themselves.
The youngsters rounded the top mark still maintaining their lead. Groups of adult boats were forming through the fleet as, gradually, some were catching others.
On the run down to the club house everyone was closing in on each other as they headed to the bottom mark, with the juniors managing to fend the rest off until the start of the second lap.
As the fleet made its way up river for the second time, a couple of the quicker boats started to pick their way through towards the front and on the run back to the club house.
Paul Burton and Tom Bell had made their way to the front as the final minutes ticked by, with Bell managing to edge out in front to take first from Burton in second and Wilson in third.
With three of the juniors dropping out, only 16 boats took part in the second race. The breeze picked up slightly, allowing the two remaining youngsters Jack and Katie Follington to pull out a reasonable lead before the first of the adults closed in, with the boats heading to the top mark in almost staring order.
On the run back down to the club house to complete the second lap, the fleet had started to close up with Geri van Haren making the biggest gain as they approached the bottom mark for the second time.
Katie Follington finally relinquished the lead as they rounded the mark, with Wilson ahead of Holland in second, while Martin Cook was third on the start of the third lap with three minutes to go.
Van Haren’s progress came to a sudden halt when, in a misjudged take, Ian Dignal’s Laser collided with him – causing a loss of rudder.
This left Wilson, Holland and Cook to fight it out for the finish, with a minute left.
Wilson and Holland were level and swapped places a few more times before Holland narrowly took the win from Wilson, with Cook back in third.
With a third and a second under his belt, Wilson headed into the final race in the lead, one point clear of Bell.
With the wind having strengthened a bit more, the only remaining junior Katie Follington set off first and made quick progress almost making the top mark by the time the adults set off.
A few boats did start to progress through the fleet on their way to the top mark.
But, with Katie Follington well on her way to completing her first lap, catching her before the hour was up seemed to be a tall order.
Behind her, Holland was second ahead of Wilson, with Bell having made his way through up to fourth in full knowledge he needed to finish ahead of Wilson to take overall victory.
However, Katie Follington would hold on to take the win by a considerable distance, with Holland second and fourth-placed Bell unable to catch Wilson in third.
A second third place was enough for Wilson to take overall victory from Holland in second and Bell in third. Highest junior – and fifth overall – was Katie Follington.
