Excellent sportsmanship at the Royal Lymington Penguin Trophy 2021
by Tanya Baddeley 30 Dec 2021 13:48 GMT
28 December 2021
Royal Lymington Penguin Trophy 2021 © Paul French
Storm clouds, heavy rain and some ominously dark colours on Windguru didn't stop seven teams from making their way to the Royal Lymington Yacht Club for the Penguin Trophy, this year back in its traditional post-Christmas December slot.
The Penguin Trophy is a mainstay in the RLymYC calendar, often attracting the best sailing talent amongst the membership including Olympians, world champions and local legends.
And as the last racing event before the start of the Club's Centenary year in 2021, all teams were keen for success!
Gusty wind and some excellent sportsmanship from all teams saw a hotly contested Flight A, culminating in Max Crowe and Hattie Rogers and Nik and Hannah Froud making their way to the final after two close races.
Flight B witnessed some especially tight racing between Robbie and Kirstie Urwin and Luke and Emma McEwen. These two teams also progressed through to the final with Sharon Fenemore and Sarah Richards narrowly missing out.
The Urwins and the McEwens picked up where they left off in the first race of the final, the Urwins got away well but a mistake at the windward mark saw them fall back to third allowing the Frouds to slip through to second after a poor start. The McEwens maintained their lead to the finish with the order behind them remaining unchanged.
In the last race of the day, the Frouds defended the leeward spot on the start line allowing a strong start and a lead which they kept throughout the race. Behind, the Urwins and the McEwens battled away with the McEwens slipping past on the final top reach to score a second with the Urwins in third and Max and Hattie placing fourth.
The results made for a tight scoreline, both the Frouds and the McEwens scoring 3 points overall with the Frouds taking overall victory due to their win in the final race.
As to be expected in the spirit of the Penguin Trophy, the standard of sailing was extremely high and all four of the finalists would have been worthy winners.
Special thanks to the race team, in particular Ken Hay for standing in as RO at very late notice, Allan Hill, Bob Burney, Roy Froud, Sammy Griffiths, Andrew Richards, Chris Knox, John Evans and Anne, David and Nick Brunskill. Thanks to Hannah Froud for the race report.
Royal Lymington Yacht Club always welcomes new members including experienced sailors and motorboaters as well as those new to the water. Find out more information about the Club at rlymyc.org.uk and for membership enquiries please contact 01590 672677 or .