Tomlinson Vase 26th June 2021, at Harwich and Dovercourt MBC
Ten sailors arrived at Dovercourt Boating Lake on the morning of Sat.26th June to compete for the Tomlinson Trophy for R6M’s.
They were greeted by light winds from the south, not good at Dovercourt as this breeze blows directly across the narrow Lake. The wind was forecast to back towards the East, so a triangular course was set, leaving the option to move along the pond as required.
The morning racing was tricky with such a short course, but Vinnie Zammit, Derek Priestley and Shaun Holbeche were leading the field with only two points separating them at lunchtime.
The breeze then obliged and backed to the East which allowed the course to be set using the full length of the pond. It also increased to a very pleasant 8 knots.
Shaun Holbeche was now showing the way, with seven wins out of the afternoon racing, closely followed by Derek Priestley. Vinnie Zammit had a mixture of bad luck and gear failure, and slipped away, although he hung on to third place.
The R6M class, as always, showed good sportsmanship with all rule infringements settled on the water. Considering the difficult morning this was quite an achievement.
The winner of the Tomlinson Trophy was Shaun Holbeche, second place to Derek Priestley and third place to Vinnie Zammit.
Thanks to Geoff Earle of Harwich and Dovercourt Model Boat Club for organising the event.
Report by Chris Esdale-Pearson All pics by Ronnie Bird