Sailingfast ILCA Thames Valley Grand Prix at Welsh Harp Sailing Club

The latest event on the Sailingfast sponsored Thames Valley ILCA Grand Prix circuit was held at Welsh Harp Sailing Club on Saturday July 20th. In a shifty south-westerly ranging from very light to marginal planing, twenty ILCA 7s and three ILCA 6s lined up together for the four races.

In Race 1, John Curran led from virtually start to finish followed by Neil Crosby and Julian Bradley with those positions not changing to the finish. Julian didn't help his cause by hooking the committee boat with his mainsheet when trying to attack Neil on the last downwind leg. Christopher Kilshaw was first ILCA 6.

The second race quickly turned into a very tight two-boat contest between Julian and Neil. Julian squeezed in front at the first leeward mark and the next two laps consisted of some very close quick tacking covering by Julian on Neil on the beats and defending on the downwinds. Julian kept the lead to the finish with Alan Holloway leading the chasing pack home in 3rd with Christopher again leading the ILCA 6s fleet.

The third race was a carbon copy of the second with Julian leading and close covering Neil in second after the two of them got clear at the start. This dual enabled third placed Richard Lymposs to close in on the two of them late in the race, but this order remained until the finish. This ensured Julian would win the ILCA 7s overall with 5 points ahead of Neil in second with 6 points, regardless of what happened in the final race. Christopher again was first ILCA 6 ensuring his overall victory.

Despite the top two ILCA 7 positions being decided already, Race 4 turned out to be the best race of the day with 6 boats fighting it out with multiple lead and position changes. This time Julian and Neil lost out to the other four who were fighting it out for third place overall. Gareth Jones won it with Richard Lymposs in second, Micha Meyers from the home club in third and John Curran in fourth. This gave Gareth third place overall, one point in front of John in fourth who pushed Richard down to fifth on countback.

Thanks go the race and shore teams for the excellent running of the event in some testing conditions for the race officer.

ILCA 7 Results:

ILCA 6 Results: