Dell Quay Sailing Club

The “Late Trophy Series” at Dell Quay SC continued last Sunday with eight boats entering two races. Entries comprised of four Solo’s, two Fireflies and two General Handicap. Race Officer Carol Andrews set a testing course stretching from the Kiln to Hook marks, reasonably light winds in the first race strengthened later in the second race providing tough upwind beats, fast reaches, and challenging gybes.

In the Solo class Roger Puttock and Nicki Buchanan got off to the best starts in the first race, Puttock taking the lead and winning comfortably in the end with Stephen Holcroft second and Fred Hilgers third.

In the second race it looked like Holcroft had the best start only to be judged over the line and having to return to restart. This gave Puttock the advantage and he sailed another excellent race to finish a clear first. Hilgers having sailed well in second place for most of the race capsized at the tricky Kiln mark allowing Holcroft to take second before Hilgers righted himself to take third.

In the general handicap Andrew Buchanan (Finn) won the first race, followed by Ken Baker and Helen Evans (Dayboat) in second.

In the second race Buchanan also capsized at the Kiln mark and retired after getting his mast stuck in the mud and after assisting Buchanan, Baker and Evans took a well-deserved first place.

With most of the Firefly families on holiday, the fleet was down to the 2 boats of Rowan & Hugo Marchant Williams and Will & Rory Parrett. Racing was close in the first race with some fast reaches a source of great excitement for the young crews. In the end the Parrett’s’ took the win by a boat length. In the second race the Marchant-Williams kept up with the Parrett’s’ until the final lap when with the breeze increasing, Will & Rory pulled away. A passing squall coupled with sizeable waves made for an exhilarating reach on the penultimate before the Parrett’s’ crossed the line for their second win of the day.