Portishead Yacht & Sailing Club 50th Anniversary

On the 18th of June Portishead Yacht and Sailing Club celebrated its golden jubilee. To commemorate this occasion a special pursuit race supported by LDC Racing Sailboats took place with 52 boats taking part.

It was a very challenging race taking place in hot sunny conditions with a light variable wind. First away were the Willcock’s twins in their mirror who set the early pace.

The Wayfarer of Colin Wilson and Mike Cox started well and caught some of the slower boats quite quickly. Another fast starter was the RS Vareo of Bob Broughton who quickly overhauled the Laser fleet.

The most competitive fleet of the day was the Fireballs with lots of tight tussles from the start to the finish with numerous lead changes in the early stages.

The highly fancied RS400 fleet started well but could not make a huge impact in the race, the same can be said for the faster boats including a fleet of 505’s, Musto Skiff, 59er and RS800.

The slower boats held a good lead on the faster boats until a slow crossing of the main tidal which allowed the Fireball of Andy Pearce and Adam Broughton, to take the lead, which they held to the finish.

There were tight finishes for the rest of the places with Steve Hunt and Helen Taylor in their RS400 narrowly taking second place, from Andy and Andrea Willcocks in their Fireball, who were also first visitors.

The sailing was followed by a lovely barbeque in the evening sun with people then continuing the party atmosphere to a live jazz band. A good time was had by all.

Overall Results: