Enterprise Thames Valley trophy series event at Frensham Pond Sailing Club

Katrina Gilbert and Jenny Rust win the Packard Cup at Frensham © Brendan Chaplin

The Enterprise Open meeting on 15th June, an event of the Thames Valley trophy, saw a fleet of seven consisting of two visitors and five home boats sharing the water with the GP14 Open.

The day held to the promise of being sunny but with sufficient cloud to help stir the air up and make sailing interesting.

Conditions picked up very much to those predicted with a usable wind of up to 14, gusting 19, knots reported as a constant westerly but local conditions gave a different story with extremely variable shifts adding spice to the sailing tactics.

The race officer, Bruce Hill, changed from the scheduled 3 races to fit 2 races back-to-back in both the morning and afternoon, all following the same course.

In the first race both Ann Jackson with Alan Skeens and Katrina Gilbert with Jenny Rust got off to a good start and pulled away from the bulk of the fleet, Katrina soon taking the lead which they commanded to the end despite others' best efforts.

Race 2 was very much a repeat of Race 1 for the leaders but this time visitors Hilgard and Hanelle Muller got the measure of the pond and led the followers to a third place.

Home helm Ted Bonner and his crew Harrison Parsons, with an amazing age difference of nearly 75 years, came in 6th but felt that this second race was enough for the day.

In Race 3, Once again Katrina Gilbert showed her superiority to take the lead ahead of Ann Jackson with Nick Carr getting back in third position.

Neither Katrina Gilbert nor Ann Jackson could stay for the last race but even with a discard the order was secured leaving the three boats of the middle fleet to have an enjoyable evenly matched tussle to round off the day.

Katrina Gilbert and Jenny Rust's three first places won them the Frensham Packard Cup.

After the racing many were happy to chat and soak up the warm sunshine with an enjoyable tea, this year provided by the galley, and the prize-giving.

Overall Results: