Dell Quay Sailing Club

On Sunday 13^th June, competitors for the final two races in Dell Quay Sailing Club’s Early Trophy series were greeted by glorious sunshine and light and variable breezes. In addition to the complex wind shifts, sailors had to contend with large clumps of weed and drifts of jellyfish to add to the tactical complexities!

In the Solo class, racing had been extremely close throughout the series with 5 competitors able to take the Trophy, depending on the result of the final day's racing.

In the first race Bill Dawber established a good lead around the early marks but then a navigational error led to a neck and neck tacking battle with Steve Holcroft, with Holcroft slipping past to take line honours. These two were closely followed by Mark Harper and Simon Verrall.

At this stage, Holcroft and Dawber had equal points in the series and so the trophy would be determined by the last race. Verrall established a small lead off the start ahead of Dawber and Holcroft which he held for the first lap, but on the second beat Dawber found better wind and overtook to take the lead and the gun ahead of Verrall, Holcroft and a fast-charging John Purdy.

This result was just sufficient for Dawber to take the Trophy with Holcroft in 2^nd and Verrall in 3^rd overall in one of the most closely fought series of the season so far.

The ever-growing Firefly fleet had a record 12 boats on the start line and in Race 1, Mark and Beatrice Tait made the most of the testing shifty conditions up the first upwind leg followed by Ollie Reynolds and Harvey and Sophia Hillary. The Tait's held out to the finish, while the Hillary's overcame Reynolds to finish in second and third, respectively.

In Race 2, it was a close fight up the first beat between the top 5, with the Tait's, Hillary's and Reynolds in the mix again. The Tait's made the most of the right-hand shift, to get away. While the chasing Hillary's made the most of a capsize for Reynolds to grab second but despite best efforts could not get close enough to overcome the Tait's who held out for the win, followed home by the Hillary's and a recovering Reynolds. 

The Tait’s won the Firefly series with an excellent 4 wins out of 5 with the Hillary’s second and Reynolds third.

In the general handicap it was Roger Francis (Graduate) who won the first race followed by Jon Wilburn & Lawrence Kies (RS400) in second with Andrew Buchanan (Finn) in third. In the second race it was the 2000 of Mike Fitzgerald & Tim Dormer that won followed by Francis in second and Buchanan in third. Overall, Roger Francis (Graduate) won the series followed by Mike Fitzgerald & Tim Dormer in second with Buchanan third.