Conditions were excellent - a light south easter provided the motive power for the sailing boats and it was sunny after the rain over the previous several days. The senior fleet of ten boats had just one Fireball and one 29er, the rest were Lasers. The junior fleet had Dabchicks, Tera Sports and Optimists. The wind was still strong enough to be challenging to two beginner Laser sailors, though.
The 29er, sailed by James and Ashleigh Hellstrom fared better in the lighter wind and was able to finish well clear of the fleet in the two races they sailed. The Fireball sailed by Jayan Smart and Jenna Lammers started late in the first race and was not able to extend sufficient of a lead in the others to be able to pose a threat to the Lasers on corrected time. As regards the Lasers, Malcolm Osborne established a lead in the first race to finish ahead. He was followed by John Marc Olivier and Jonathan Rees (both on Laser Radial).
But on the Portsmouth rating system, it was Georgou Divaris, sailing on the smaller sail Laser 4.7 who came out as the race winner.
In race two, it was Olivier who had the lead, chased by Paine, Osborne and Rees. In the third race, it was Henry Paine who was able to establish a lead, trailed by Osborne and Olivier. Here Olivier got the race win on handicap.
Overall for the Commodores Cup, sailed over six races with one throw out, the winner is John Marc Olivier, with Georgou Divaris in second place and Henry Paine third.
The Dabchicks were at the head of the junior fleet, with the Teras and Optimists in their wake. Kirstie Gehrung was the Dabchick winner in all three races, followed by Julian Leggatt. On the water, the Tera Sports of Robyn Hellstrom and Pia Marriotti was mixing it with the Optimists of James and Sean Vonk. However, on inter-class handicaps, it was the Optimists which came out as race winners - James Vonk won all three races, with his brother Sean taking the seconds. On the day, Hellstrom was third, but overall for the Nissen Trophy, James Vonk is the winner, with brother Sean in second place and Julian Leggatt third overall.
Pia Marriotti on a Tera Sport leading from James Vonk on his Optimist. (Photo: Evelyn Osborne.)
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