It was an exciting and close battle between the five sailors competing for the 2023 Ladies Trophy on Sunday July 9th.
Race officers, Andrew Boxer, Cara Ivers, James Long and Clive Church set a course to cope with the changing winds encountered during the afternoon. The morning’s racing had seen winds shifting between the southeast and southwest by south, but after lunch when the Ladies Trophy started it had beared round to a southerly with occasional shifts toward southwest and around six to eight knots with very occasional light gusts. The course consisted of two buoys, a C buoy set about fifty metres upstream of the club OD box, this buoy started the course and was taken to port. The upstream buoy was set midstream at the bend and again taken to port.
The sailors lined up at the line and set off with Mary Webb (LN 178) and Carole Dixon (LN 259) making the best starts followed by Sue Church (LN 155), Christine Roy (LN 403) and Mandy Taylor (LN 193). Mary led the downwind leg and around the A buoy and held a lead of over a minute at the end of the first lap followed by Carole, Christine, Sue and Mandy. Carole closed the gap to fifteen seconds by the end of the second lap and Sue had passed Christine to take third place. Carole passed Mary at the top of the course and extended her lead on the run back to the C buoy by taking a tack across close to the Berkshire bank and holding a long close haul all the way to the C buoy and around. Sue held onto her third place with Christine just behind and Mandy fifth. On the fifth lap, Carole lost the lead when she dropped her tiller near the A buoy. As the leaders returned back from A buoy, the race officers sounded the horn and S flag for a shortened course. Most of the sailors misinterpreted this and sailed for the finish line, so Mary Sue and Christine crossed the line ahead of the leader. Mary crossed the line to win the race with Carole second and Mandy in a lapped third place.
As the sailors lined up for the second race, the wind was slightly stronger. Carole and Sue made the best starts, but as Carole sailed downwind to the A buoy she lost her tiller again and decided to retire. Sue kept her lead around the A buoy with Mary second, Mandy third and Christine fourth. Mary extended her lead on the second lap as Mandy passed Christine for second as they round the C buoy at the end of the lap. Mandy extended her second place on the third lap and on the fourth lap, Christine closed in on Sue to battle for third. The race was again shortened on the fifth lap and Mary came home to a convincing win with Mandy second, Sue had held off Christine for third.
With two wins, Mary won the Ladies Trophy, Mandy was second with a third and a second and Carole was third with a second and a retirement.