Nine visitors from various clubs around the country joined seven local boats for this year’s Firefly Autumn Trophy open meeting on the Welsh Harp yesterday.

A rapidly freshening north-easterly wind allowed race officer Roger Wilson to start the first race with a beat using the full length of the Harp, followed by three downwind legs which gave ample opportunity for some interesting gybes and a few capsizes.

Andy Cornah and Hamish Walker won this race by a good margin, but there was a close battle for the next few places, with Leo Dixon and Lucy Armstrong eventually taking second place ahead of Simon Spolton and Sally Wilson in third place and Ben Field and Tom Foster in fourth place.

In the afternoon the wind had swung round a little further to the east, so a slightly different course with two longish diagonal beats was used for the second and third races which were sailed back to back. Cornah and Walker repeated their winning performance in the second race, but the pursuing bunch finished in a different order with Spolton and Wilson second, Field and Foster third and Dixon and Armstrong fourth.

The third race was closer at the front, with Dixon and Armstrong successfully using their covering skills to keep Cornah & Walker in second place at the finish. Spolton and Wilson were third, with Field and Foster fourth.

Overall Results
1st Andy Cornah and Hamish Walker (West Kirby SC)
2nd Leo Dixon and Lucy Armstrong (West Kirby SC)
3rd Simon Spolton and Sally Wilson (Wessex Exiles)
4th Ben Field and Tom Foster (Royal Thames YC).