THE fifth annual Boxing Day Handicap races took place at Roswell waters in a light but at times gusty north westerly breeze. An average fleet of 11 boats took to the water, ten single handed boats and one double handed Enterprise took part. One sailor ma

THE fifth annual Boxing Day Handicap races took place at Roswell waters in a light but at times gusty north westerly breeze.

An average fleet of 11 boats took to the water, ten single handed boats and one double handed Enterprise took part. One sailor managed to fill up before the start while another capsized on the first run.

There were place changes in the middle of the fleet but Alex Tory in his Solo took an early lead and maintained it through out the race.

After a break for mulled wine, Christmas cake and mince pies, the race officer, Jill Sallis, devised a revised course which made use of all the club marker buoys and so managed to include three beats within the race.

There was close racing to the first mark and one helm added to the excitement by rounding the mark to starboard instead of port. By the time he had corrected his mistake he had dropped from first to eighth place.

Alex Tory again took an early lead but was chased by Gary Ungless, also in a Solo, who managed to be ahead for all of ten seconds at one mark but Alex was 50 yards ahead by the end of the race.

These two wins gave Alex a combined score of two points and so he completed his hat trick of three consecutive annual wins. There was however a five way tie for second place, with five helms on a combined score of eight points.

By taking second place scores into consideration there was still a tie as Eric Christan and Gary Ungless both counted a second and sixth place. In order to break the tie the finishing positions in the second race counted. Commodore Clare Christan presented the trophies to the winner Alex Tory and runner-up Gary Ungless.

Results:

Alex Tory (Solo)1+1= 2 points. 2. Gary Ungless (Solo) 6+2= 8 points. 3. Hannah Christan (Comet ) 5+3= 8 points.

Vincent and Clare Christan (Enterprise ) 4+4= 8 points. 5. Niall Pearcey (Solo) 3+5= 8 points. 6. Eric Christan (Comet) 2+6= 8 points. 7. Graham Tory (Solo) 7+7= 14 points. 8. Simon Loach (Solo) 10+8=18 points.