Despite the recent rain having put just enough flow on the river to push the surface weed towards town, where it has totally blocked the water taxi, there was still a lot of submerged weed to challenge the sailors from Welland Yacht Club on Sunday.
Eight boats came to the start for race one of The Grounds Trophy and leading the fleet away was Alan Chapman in his Laser Radial, but he lost a couple of places on the beat to buoy three.
Approaching Shelly’s Bush Corner a combination of a wind shift and weed caught out Alan Cox, also in a Laser Radial, and saw the only capsize of the day.
On their first run back to buoy 1 it was Helen Boyd, in her Solo, followed by new sailors Paul and Emma McGuire in their Lark, James Ramp (Laser Radial), Adam Stabler (Laser), Alan Chapman, Gerri Van Haren (Phantom), Alan Cox and Geoff Tibbs (Solo).
At the end of the second lap the positions on the water remained unchanged.
Following the application of class handicaps Boyd managed to hold her first place but below that it was all change with Ramp in second place, Chapman third, the McGuires in fourth, Stabler fifth, Alan Cox sixth, and Van Haren and Tibbs in joint seventh.
Van Haren decided not to race because of the weed, and Chapman was first away again in race two, followed by Ramp, Cox, Boyd, Stabler the McGuires and Tibbs.
There was some very close racing on the beat up to buoy 3 and what looked, from the clubhouse, to be a very near miss between Cox and the McGuires as they approached Shelly’s Bush Corner.
The weed proved troublesome again and Chapman decided to retire from the race.
On lap two, Cox also fell foul of the weed and retired.
By the final rounding of buoy 1 it was Boyd followed by Ramp then the McGuires and these positions were unchanged after handicaps were applied.
After lunch, with the wind shifting and picking up a little, only five of the original eight boats took the start.
This time it was Boyd away first, followed closely by Ramp, then Cox, the McGuires and Tibbs.
The wind shift made it harder work for the sailors beating up-river to buoy 3.
It was still almost a dead run back to buoy 1 which saw Helen leading Ramp, Cox, the McGuires and Tibbs.
Cox retired, due to the weed, but the remaining sailors carried on.
These positions were held until the final leg back from buoy 3 when weed, and an unexpected gust, saw Boyd lose control for a moment and get stuck on the bank giving James the chance to get past.
The final positions on the water were Ramp, Boyd, the McGuires and Tibbs and these were unchanged by the handicaps.
Overall, the Grounds Trophy was won by Boyd, with Ramp second and the McGuires third.
