This weekend saw the Crouch Yacht Club race to Shotley and back as part of the annual Victory Cup series. On Saturday there was a strong North Easterly wind making conditions difficult for the fleet, especially as a number of the boats were short-handed. Inn Spirit helmed by Nick Poole were first over the line but on handicap the winner of the Grayling Bowl was Paul Drew and crew in Harvest Moon. Alan Bartlett’s Inn Spirit was second with Mick Willet and team in Polaris III third.

On the Sunday race back for the Lodestar Trophy and in relatively light airs, the bigger boats stretched their legs on a long fetch back to the Swin Spitway and then pulled away further in the River Crouch finishing in good time to see the second half of the England match. Again Inn Spirit were pipped into second place, this time by just over a minute on corrected time, to Duncan Haley’s Double Trouble. In third place were Harvest Moon.

Paul Drew