Welland Yacht Club round-up

It was a day of challenging fluky winds on Sunday at Welland Yacht Club for the nine boats that took part.

As has become the norm this season, the wind was blowing from the north meaning the start line was down river with sailors having to tack the short distance to buoy one after which there was a long run up river to buoy four.

Alan Chapman was first round the mark, followed closely by Andy Prior and grandson Harry Jackson in the Lark with Alan Cox getting 'shut out' and having to go the long way round but still in third.

On the long run up river, the wind went through a cycle of dropping off to next to nothing and then filling in from behind.

This meant that Chapman's good start and mark rounding didn't provide the benefits he had hoped for as the majority of the fleet caught him up and all sailed down the river side by side up to buoy four.

Cox had water at this mark with Chapman just behind followed by Prior and Jackson with the larger Phantom of van Haren making up ground fast.

From buoy four, the competitors went back down the mile straight and then rounded buoy three to run back to buoy four again.

Although Chapman did manage to pass Cox briefly, his lead was short-lived and Cox then held on to it for the rest of the race.

Van Haren did manage to pass Chapman and the Lark of Prior/Jackson to cross the line in second while Helen Boyd in her Solo was sailing well and crossed the line in fourth.

However, once handicaps were applied, she moved up to third behind Cox and Chapman while Prior/Jackson were fourth 10 seconds ahead of van Haren.

Richard Stedman in his Comet was sixth with newcomer Geoff Tibbs in seventh while Adam Stabler took eighth in a Laser he was trying out with son William ninth.

The wind conditions improved marginally for race two but produced similar results.

This time the Lark of Prior and Jackson were first around buoy one and they had started to pull out a bit of a lead but the wind dropped and then filled in from the back to allow the rest of the fleet to catch them before all sailed in a line to buoy four together.

Prior and Jackson had water at the mark rounding just ahead of Cox, Chapman and then Boyd.

They then entered into a closely fought tacking duel with Cox for the remainder of the race with Chapman a short distance behind and Boyd again keeping pace in her slower Solo.

Although Prior/Jackson hung on to cross the line first, Cox was only a few seconds behind to take first comfortably on handicap.

Only seconds separated second, third and fourth with Chapman edging out Boyd with Prior and Jackson close behind.

Stedman came fifth with an improving Tibbs in sixth from Adam Stabler.

The wind had built further for race three but the direction hadn't improved, allowing the fleet to bunch up again by buoy four.

Cox rounded first with Prior and Jackson metres behind and, for the rest of the race, these two boats swapped first place multiple times in a close-fought tacking duel.

In the end, Prior and Jackson crossed the line one minute ahead but again this wasn't sufficient to make up for the handicap and Cox took his third win of the day.

Stedman in his Comet had stayed in contention with Boyd and took third spot from her.

Chapman dropped back to fifth and Adam Stabler got the better of Tibbs to take sixth.

These results gave Cox the regatta victory with three straight wins in challenging conditions with Chapman second in another Laser.

The Lark of Jackson and Prior were third, one point behind Chapman but on the same points as Boyd but taking the place on countback.

Stedman took fifth from the newcomer Tibbs while Adam Stabler was seventh ahead of van Haren and William Stabler who both only took part in one race.

The club holds its open day on June 8 from noon until 4pm. Full details can be found at wellandyachtclub.co.uk