Steve Hall and Dave Hyde sailing Sophie 845 won the 6 race mini regatta for the CYC trophy over the weekend of 3/4 June.   Fresh from the East Coast Championships a strong contingent of 11 boats competed on WWL courses excellently managed by Andy Wise and his team.  The strong North Easterly breeze and a spring tide ensured close racing with the overall result decided on Sunday’s final race where Hall & Hyde outsmarted their main rivals Phil Aspinall and Dave Sheppard (Guy Fawkes 72) on the start line and cruised home to a comfortable victory.  Micky Wright and Alex Porteous completed the podium in borrowed boat Nenuphar 618.

Race 1 saw Team Tolhurst (What’s The Story 779) with Nic, Sarah and young Mia get a clean start and first to the windward mark in a tide that had recently turned to ebb causing a nasty little chop on a course set near Fairway#1, west of the Roach entrance.  Unfortunately, Nic missed the upwind gate to record a DNF and retired to the clubhouse with burning ears.  This left Hall and Hyde to claim their first win of the weekend. Robert Coyle and guest crew Petru Balau sailed a clean race to claim second and went on to secure a win in Race 2 before they too retired to the bar with boat breakages.

The final race of the day looked like a clear 1, 2 for Sophie and Guy Fawkes until the yellow boat clipped the final mark and demoted themselves to 4^th allowing Nenuphar and Zoom #14 (Derek Wastnage and Pete Gilmore) to claim the podium places.

The fleet retired to the bar to repair boats, massage aching limbs and enjoy a superb curry evening.

Sunday saw only slightly lighter winds but bright sunshine and a flood tide to keep the same race area much smoother.  Another well placed course could not avoid committee boat bias, resulting in some close, hairy starts for all 3 races of the day.  Sophie and Guy Fawkes led the way, yet GF chose the right gybe on the first downwind leg to establish a clear lead to the finish followed closely by What’s The Story.  Race 5 saw Sophie lead until, at the final leeward gate rounding, the boats split with Guy Fawkes crossing first just a boat length ahead of Sophie.

On the start line of the final race Hall secured a clean front position and also luffed Aspinall back to the third row.  Best start went to Jason Phelps and Carl Anderson (By The Lee 868), who led to the windward mark only to be overhauled by Sophie,  What’s The Story and Nenuphar.

The whole fleet enjoyed a great weekend of competition many enduring the Crouch Chop for the first time and others finding weak spots ahead of the National Championship, a credit to the organiser (Dave Hyde), the race Officer (Andy Wise) and his team plus support from former CYC members.