Scourfield makes his Mark by winning tight Paddle battle at Welland Yacht Club

Mark Scourfield won a keenly-contested battle for the Welland Paddle Trophy at Welland Yacht Club on Sunday.

The conditions for the Trophy provided the eight boats that came to the start line with some testing and frustrating conditions throughout the day, with the wind ranging from 3-6mph and changing direction constantly.

It was the phantom of Gerri van Haren who took advantage of what little wind there was for race one and got a great start, followed by Will Cook (solo) and Gail Follington (comet).

The first leg provided some close tacking racing as the wind came and went.

This resulted in Alan Cox (laser) and Cook succumbing to rule infringements and having to incur penalty turns.

That allowed van Haren to sail his own race and he was never in danger of being overtaken and stretched out a substantial lead.

After the handicaps were applied it was van Haren who finished first, with Cook second and Follington.

The course remained the same for race two, with the option to shorten. The wind had picked up though, to an optimistic 6mph which gave some encouragement to those starting.

The start line was more contested this time and it was Cox followed by Scourfield (solo) who tacked away from the chasing boats, including Richard Holland and Alister Mitchell in the lasers, with van Haren not competing.

Cox rounded first, but put a tack in which allowed Scourfield to gain some valuable ground that was to prove vital in the end.

He maintaned the lead and crossed the line ahead of Scourfield, but once handicaps were applied they swapped places, with Follington third.

At the start of the third and final race it was all to sail for, with any one of four boats capable of winning the trophy.

Only five boats came to the start line with some change in wind strength, which allowed the full two laps of the course to be sailed.

Again it was a good start by Cox in the laser who sailed into a lead with less of an equal beat and was not overtaken.

Behind, the chasing boats were closely bunched and all finished within a minute of each other.

After the corrected times were applied it was Scourfield who won the race by a minute from Cox, with Follington in third again.

Final standings: Welland Paddle Trophy – 1st Scourfield 7pts; 2nd Cox 8pts; 3rd Follington 9pts; 4th Cook 10pts.