Tynemouth SC held its Blaydon Races at Newburn on Tyne on a blustery first Sunday in April (4). After a first lap covering more or less the normal course, the fleet raced up to Wylam and back, then completing a further round of the normal course before finishing after some two hours of energetic racing.

Any one of four National 12 could have won the Blaydon Races Trophy but in the end Mark and Emma Simpson finished first in their newly acquired Aardvark boat. Howard and Thomas Steavenson came second in the late Robin Steavenson’s Crusader. Howard Elcock and Veronica Fyland managed to survive in a 46-year-old Mark VIII.

Alan Baker won the Enterprise Trophy for the 13th consecutive time – a true Baker’s Dozen but was strongly pursued by Philip Murray. Ken Murray demonstrated that keelboat skills are valid in dinghies by winning the Lasers convincingly.

Trophy winners

National Twelve

N 3472, Mark and Emma Simpson (Scaling Dam SC)

Enterprise

E 22695, Alan Baker and Gill Kincaid (Tynemouth SC)

Laser

L 6732 Ken Murray (Tynemouth SC)