The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Andy Prior was once again in fine form as two of Welland Yacht Club’s race series were decided.
First up in ideal conditions was the Morning Points which saw nine boats take to the line.
With the wind blowing straight down the river the race started with a long beat which saw very close racing for the first few hundred yards and positions changing hands regularly.
Although Tom Bell was first away Prior managed to overtake him but there was little to separate the two Lasers.
Only slightly further back Brian Cobb in a Europe and Alan Cox in a Laser Radial were having their own race with Cox recovering well from an early capsize.
At the other end of the field Phil Robinson and Katie Follington were keeping up with the fleet well in the much slower Toppers.
Because of the good conditions the officer of the day had set a one lap course all the way to the end of the ‘mile straight’ but unfortunately this caused a lot of problems as boats had to pass though a sheltered patch of river with no wind.
This broke the fleet up a lot and allowed Prior to break free of Bell.
He managed to keep this lead right up to the last mark but then proceeded to go around it the wrong way.
Sportingly Bell pointed out the mistake allowing Prior to re-round the mark the correct way but by then Bell had just taken the lead from him.
Once handicaps had been applied Bell took first from Prior with Cobb third and Martin Cook in his Solo four.
Overall this meant that Prior took the series with three first place and a second with Bell second in the overall standing and Cobb third.
The Commodore Points series then came to a conclusion with the final two races again seeing nine boats on the water.
To avoid the wind shadow a shorter two lap course was used which kept the fleet close together.
Like the first race Bell and Prior were first away however Gerri van Haren was close on their heels in his larger Phantom.
Cox was also in contention in his Laser Radial as was Follington in the Topper.
As the race progressed Prior managed to pull slightly ahead of the pack which continued to enjoy very close and competitive racing.
This allowed Prior to take the win from Bell and Cox. Fourth went to Follington with van Haren fifth.
The wind increased slightly for the final Commodore race to make the conditions even better and to test a theory about which Laser was quicker Prior and Bell decided to swap boats for the race.
The theory wasn’t proved conclusively either way as Bell was the wrong side of the start line as the start signal sounded meaning he lost time returning to the correct side of the line.
Despite the poor start Bell managed to catch van Haren, Cox and Prior but as Bell followed Prior closely around the windward mark he capsized.
Not only did this give Prior an opportunity to pull clear it also slowed down Cox and van Haren as they had to negotiate the capsized Laser.
This dictated the final positions with Prior first, Cox second, Follington an excellent third, Bell fourth and Alistair Mitchell fifth.
Overall the series was won by Prior from Bell and Follington third.
