Worrell makes flying start to Princess Royal Sailing Club’s summer season with Jack Baxter Trophy win

Division two skipper Neil Worrell sailed extremely well to his handicap to win the Jack Baxter Trophy in a King George Sound race last Saturday.

The weather didn’t look promising early on but by race time it was more pleasant, with a southerly wind around the 20-knot mark and gusts up to 25 knots.

Prior to the start Brett Hawker had put Jessie James on the mud and lost valuable time extricating his boat from the bottom, but did start even if it was a tad late.

The small mixed fleet made good time down the harbour, with Stephen Brown in Mary Maitland leading narrowly over Josh Hughes in Joker.

Zuri was able to stay with them without using a spinnaker as they moved into the Sound for several legs before returning to the harbour.

Hawker had taken the lead and was first back into the harbour with Joker now well in front of Mary Maitland, followed by Zuri who was doing quite well.

The wily and more experienced Brown eventually found himself ahead of Hughes and did a remarkable job as he had only one crew member and wasn’t far from Jessie James at the finish.

However, Zuri with two new crew members stole the show by winning on corrected time and claiming the trophy in a fine effort.

Brown was second and fastest in division two and Hughes was third after his great tussle with Brown.

Two Flying Fifteens were engaged in a closely fought match race.

Wayne North was the early leader with Frequent Flyer, leaving Simon Lucas well back in Forever Young.

North didn’t stay in front for long as Lucas cranked up his faithful old boat to take the lead right to the finish.

But North took the race on corrected time by a mere 28 seconds in a fine display by both skippers and crews.

This Saturday should see four Flying Fifteens in action.