Clevedon Sailing Club Presidents Trophy and RNLI Race
by Martin Gibson 24 Jun 2019 09:20 BST
23 June 2019
Clevedon Sailing Club Presidents Trophy and RNLI Race © M Batchelor
This year's Presidents Trophy was held in changeable winds.
Bruno Tinel (Laser Pico) held his own for almost the whole of the first lap, closely pursued by Stuart Turner (Laser) and cadets, Amy Turner & Rachel Elliot in the Feva. However, Ella & Martin Gibson stormed the 1st lap in their Tasar, with Paul Hield (Contender) and Hotchkiss & Black (505) the last to start with a few boats already on lap 2. At the end of the second lap, with the wind picking up, Stu Turner was in the lead closely followed by the Gibsons, Chris Cooper (Laser) and cadets Knight / Watts (Vision).
Around the hour mark, the Gibsons are looking like favourites powering ahead. On the final lap, the beat towards the start / finish line was proving a challenge for all the sailors as the wind was blanketed by the land. The Feva, sailed by cadets Turner & Elliot as well as the Pico completed 2 laps with the beat still proving to be the deciding leg. After 67 minutes, Gibson & Gibson took the lead from Stu Turner. A few minutes later, Turner re-took the lead, but this was short lived and Martin & Ella Gibson finally pulled away to take the honours.
The RNLI Race followed but with the wind dying and the ebbing tide strengthening the course proved challenging, Only one lap of the handicap race could be managed with first place awarded to Stuart Turner in the Laser.