Clive Hand Memorial Trophy at Lincoln Radio Sailing Club

Clive Hand Memorial Trophy at Lincoln Radio Sailing Club © Andy Wallace

Storm Amy did its thing over the weekend, and gave the annual legendary Clive Hand Memorial Trophy and its 30-strong fleet some very exciting racing indeed.

An almost all female task force (Race Officers) controlled the racing with expertise and no nonsense!

The two seeding races got under way at 10.00 sharp and with skippers from all parts of the country it was a busy bank side. B rigs were definitely the order of the day, and it was glorious, bright sunshine on our backs and a fresh breeze in our faces. Lincoln was the place to be that's for sure. The seeding races were won by Darin Ballington and John Tushingham, and the two fleets (A and B) got sorted with minimum fuss.

Racing was on the South bank with B fleet setting out first. Just to clarify the two heats constitute one race. The first race was won by last year's winner Pete Baldwin with his Brit Pop, and interestingly second place was taken by John Tushingham sailing probably for the first time, his new design called Mint. I am sure you will hear more about this design in the coming months. Taking up third spot was the Vision design of Buzz Coleman, so we had three different designs in the top three in the first race. By now skippers had had plenty of chance to sort the tune out and racing continued at a great pace. It was a long beat followed by a short beat and a beat up to the finish line, and with the breeze full on, just about top end for B suite. The runs sometimes became hairy with one or two dives evident.

Clive Hand Memorial Trophy at Lincoln Radio Sailing Club - photo © Andy Wallace

Race three had Darin B take the win and he repeated that in the following race and was beginning to make his mark, but it was not easy in this very experienced fleet of skippers.

We also had youth at the lake side - young Hayden Wallace 12 years old from C.M.B.C, RC sail racing Paxton St Neots, he was with his dad Ben and both were racing a " Rockstar" design, (and there is a story there) yes Hayden beat his dad and is definitely one to watch for the future, he actually got two seconds, fantastic young lad, just check out his races.

Also just starting to get warmed up was Pete Walters an ex 505 racer from the Notts County Sailing Club, who has found model boat racing a fantastic challenge as have many others. He was pushing his Venti to the limit and by race three was accumulating some fine results as were one or two others, but to be fair the conditions were testing and both John T and Darin B were experiencing some gear failures that were not helping their cause. Mick Chamberlain was sailing out of his skin, a second in the seeding and he never looked back, racing was very competitive where ever you were in the fleet.

Clive Hand Memorial Trophy at Lincoln Radio Sailing Club - photo © Andy Wallace

You can see from the results page how far many skippers had come to enter this fantastic event. After a short break for lunch and a sit down we were at it again, many fine nip and tuck races all through the afternoon, and the manner in which the event sailed was exemplary.

So to the results. We have a winner and many congratulations must go to Peter Walters who took the top step, 2nd place going to Darin Ballington, and 3rd Micky boy Chamberlain. Many thanks to the Race team who worked wonders as always, and of course to all the skippers who sailed their best, and finally to storm Amy who gave us the very best conditions for some superb racing.

During the course of the day a collection was made for the RNLI. Thanks to all - there will be a donation on the way to them in the region of £150.

Overall Results: