Laser Midlands Grand Prix Round 20 at Trent Valley Sailing Club

Laser Midlands Grand Prix at Trent Valley SC © Jennifer Foort

Laser Midlands Grand Prix at Trent Valley SC © Jennifer Foort

Upon the historic river valley waters glistening in the pure sunlight with a chugging soundtrack of passing narrowboats, descended 14 sailors ready to battle for the Francis Turner Challenge Cup, and constituting as round 20 of the Laser Midlands Grand Prix.

Local helm Ben Richardson returning to defend his win from the previous year, and championship contender John Ling of Bartley SC after having previously won the challenge in 2016. Even the son of Francis Turner also joined in the fun.

A southerly light breeze left a trail of shadows punctuated across the full length of the course, particularly the dreaded Doldrums just upstream of the Erewash, where fleets were stretched apart and where many positions were won or lost. While the winds were at their most perpendicular to the course, it challenged everybody to carefully pinch upstream as far from the North bank as possible through the beating sections.

One more result was all that Ling needed to achieve top spot in the Midlands series, regardless of where he finished on the day. From the 2nd race, it seemed that Sam Jones of Staunton Harold SC was the closest to disrupting his winning streak on the circuit. Despite Jones' protest calls to Ling in the 3rd race for tacking too close and touching a mark, Ling eventually sacrificed his lead to execute the latter forfeit and yet still fought back to the front for a well deserved hat trick of wins.

John Ling claimed back the Francis Turner Challenge Cup as well as top Master helm. Sam Jones achieved both second place and top Adult helm. Jamie Cuxson of Earlswood Lakes SC used his 2 points from the 1st race to snatch third place on countback away from last year's winner Ben Richardson, who at least got away with top TVSC helm not leaving empty handed.

Find out more on the Laser Midlands GP website.

Overall Results: