GP14 Victor Trophy at Welsh Harp Sailing Club

GP14 Victor Trophy at Welsh Harp © Luke Howard

GP14 Victor Trophy at Welsh Harp © Luke Howard

GP14 Victor Trophy at Welsh Harp © Luke Howard

Race Officer Frank, a former winner of the trophy, organised the event well – wind force 3 to 4 but gusty and a little directionally variable; temperature: shorts, tee-shirts and scorchio. Wind was westerly down the lake and so Frank set a simple figure of eight course using the full length of the lake.

However it is rumoured he has been watching too much 'Top Gear' and so the first challenge was set with a very biased line to favour port tack starting. Masters of this were visitors James Ward and Richard Whitehill who soon established a big lead from Pole position. Roger Walton and Helen Allen chased them with Richard Lord and Hannah Rose not far behind.

At the leeward mark, the fleet recognised the next challenge – in a Harry Potter-like scene, weed leapt out of the bottom of the pond to grab passing centreboards and rudders while strange cries were heard from passing boats.

The leading two seemed unaffected by all this chaos, while Richard and Hannah had obviously not taken their Polyjuice potion and dropped 4 places.

Last time round the leeward mark and James ground to a halt. As the grin on Roger's face broadened he reciprocated as James broke free. Richard had worked his way back up to third and closed in on both – so the last beat followed 'Strictly Come Dancing' format with much synchronised tacking but no place changing.

After a superb lunch, Frank took sympathy on the fleet reducing the challenges by moving the course clear of the weed area but added a hitch in the windward leg.

Andy Wadsworth with Andy Shrimpton was the clear winner of the start and rounded the windward mark clear of Roger. These two had a battle downwind with Roger pulling ahead and both leaving the rest of the fleet for dead. However on the last run, Andy was back there and it was nip 'n tuck all the way up the last beat for Roger to sneak home but a few seconds in front.

New challenges were added for race 3 with 4 gybes on the downwind section and the biased start line reinstated. This time Richard was fastest off the line but Roger held the wind gauge and with his extra lunch powered into the lead. However down the first spinnaker reach Hannah demonstrated her prowess with this rag pulling Richard to an inside overlap at the next mark. Slick gibing ensured that these were not challenged further that race.

There was a battle royal for the bronze medal position for the whole race, with the Andy's winning this and with Steve Cooper and Michal Szady pushing James back to fifth position.

The final results were Roger and Helen as clear winners, Richard and Hannah finishing second with the Andy's third. James and Richard had peaked too early and were pushed back to fourth. An excellent open meeting and probably the best simulation for Barbados yet available.

GP14 Victor Trophy at Welsh Harp - photo © Luke Howard

Overall Results: