Dell Quay Sailing Club

With last weekend’s racing at Dell Quay Sailing Club cancelled due to wind strength this weekend saw the first two club races since the start of COVID-19 and a testament to the amount of hard work and organisation put in by the Sailing Committee to ensure the racing went ahead whilst being safe, fun and competitive.

Saturday was a continuation of the Breakfast Breeze series, with the sun shining and a decent if somewhat fluky 8-12 knots of wind from the south west conditions did not disappoint. Race Officer Will Parrett set a fantastic course taking in 5 marks over 4 laps starting with a long upwind beat from Quay to Copperas West leaving competitors faced with the tactical choice of staying close to shore or trying to find more wind and face the tide mid channel.

With eleven boats starting racing was tight, it was Bill Dawber, Mark Harper and Stephen Holcroft in the Solos that battled for first place with the lead changing hands several times over the course of the race, in the end it was Bill Dawber that narrowly took the win by a two second margin with Harper in second, Holcroft in third and Sue Manning (Laser 4.7) fourth.

Post-race chat focused on Nicki Buchanan’s dramatic rescue of Ken Bakers hat, Nicki showing great helming skill whilst rounding the Kiln mark expertly fished it out of the water and returned it to a grateful owner!