The Capstan Trophy series begins at Felpham Sailing Club
by James Gerwat 3 May 2019 14:19 BST
The Capstan Trophy series begins at Felpham © Marie Aldous
From May to August, Felpham Sailing Club schedules one evening race every Wednesday (7pm start, whatever state the tide is in!)
Sailors are competing for "The Capstan Trophy", one of our most sought after awards.
We also have trophies from this series for the cadets, ladies & novice racers.
So the first in the series got off to a great start with sixteen boats making it on to the water.
The sky was gloomy, but at last the wind (F3) was from the SW (instead of the recent Northerleys) which produced a decent pattern of waves.
A 'P' course was set from the Clubhouse. During the sequence the wind shifted more to the west & most starters made the windward mark without tacking.
Tim Cutsforth (RS600) & Ross Fisher (Blaze) lead round the windward mark & set off downwind in clean air. The rest of the fleet began the chase to no avail...boat positions on the water remained unchanged for the most part.
However, there were some great class battles going on at the front, middle & back of the fleet.
Ross Fisher (Blaze) seemed to have a huge lead over the second Blaze (Richard Ganley). But by the end of the race Richard was only 16 seconds behind....if only he had another lap.
The Aero7s of Jack Miller & Richard Bentley see-sawed throughout, with Jack just beating Richard by 8 seconds.
Right at the back was the most exciting battle: three Solo sailors (Mike Pelling, Glenn Powell & Simon Howell) were jostling for the finish line....Mike Pelling just sneaking in by 1 second over Glenn Powell & Simon Howell only 9 seconds further back.
Full results: felphamsailingclub.co.uk/racing/results