Two of Ely Sailing Club’s brightest prospects did the club proud by finishing in the top 10 of the Cambs Youth Sailing League.

Club members Kirk Stamford and Ted Pepper took the short trip to Cambridge for the event last weekend, and stormed to success, taking seventh place and second place respectively in the under 15 event.

Due to the popularity of the event, with 26 participants, the fleet was split into two separate starts, with Pepper taking part in the first and Stamford in the second.

In the first race, Kirk had a fantastic start with him pulling away from the rest of the fleet and leading the pursuit of the previous Topper start.

Ted had an equally good start and found himself ahead of the other Toppers and tussling for first Topper position. As the race wore on, many sailors capsized including Kirk, but he recovered well and eventually emerged first Topper, with Ted second.

In the second race, blustery conditions made for a challenging encounter, but Ted began strongly yet again, but Kirk raced off the blocks and took an early lead.

Ted unfortunately capsized and had an altercation with some shallows and a river boat, but found his feet again to finish in a respectable twelfth place.

Kirk crossed the line in first place despite a three-minute delay, finishing in fourth overall.

In the day’s final race, the rain had reduced the wind to a gentle breeze and was the race was competed at a much slower pace. The Ely duo repeated their fine starting form and quickly caught up to battle it out once again. Due to the dying wind, the sailors only sailed four laps, excluding the five-lap lasers.

Ted Pepper maintained his consistent form from the first race coming in seventh overall, and Kirk Stamford also replicated his first race form as first Topper and second overall.

For more information on Ely Sailing Club, visit www.elysailingclub.org.