6th GW Smith Race Trophy Race, Thursday 7th August and series catchup

Published 10:50 on 13 Aug 2025

6^th GW Smith Race Trophy Race, Thursday 7^th August and series catchup

The GW Smith Trophy is now over half completed, but there is still time to influence the final results.

The 6^th race of the series, sailed on 7^th August was notable for the number of entrants,19 including a large number of juniors and trainers, thanks to the efforts of Tim Medcalf in persuading them to experience the delights of Thursday evening racing. This large entry included a good range of boat types, 8 ILCA7s, 3 Merlin Rockets, 3 Solos, 3 Toppers, a N18 and an RS Feva.

Rob Hatley, OOD for the evening, set a dogleg course starting upstream to take advantage of the vaguely Westerly wind. This was a reasonable strength to start with and two of the Merlin Rockets led after the first lap, David Baker and Barbara Adams leading John and Zoë Adams, with Joe McLaughlin in his Solo in 3^rd.

However as the wind dropped, the single handers started to come through and although David and Barbara retained their lead, positions changed substantially behind them throughout the race with places being lost and gained with the fluky wind and congested mark rounding.

Joe went down from 3^rd to 8^th and second Solo behind Tim Medcalf, Tom Bull rose from 9^th at the end of the first lap to 3^rd, behind David and Barbara and the N18 of Charles Fox and Ron Williamson that had come through the fleet after starting 2 minutes behind it. In 4^th place was a new member of the training team, Lumiere Ng.

On handicap it was definitely a night for the single handers, with Tom Bull in the ILCA7 1^st ahead of Lumiere Ng in another ILCA7, Tim Medcalf 3^rd in his Solo, Joe 4^th, also in a Solo. Charles and Ron in their N18 were the first double hander, but dropped from 2^nd on the water to 6^th and David and Barbara in the leading Merlin Rocket dropped from 1^st on the water to 9^th.

The juniors did very well in that melee of boats with Max McLaughlin in his Topper finishing 7^th on handicap.

Overall the position is:

1^st Tom Bull ILCA7 8 points

2^nd David Baker and Barbara Adams/Carolyne Vines Merlin Rocket 14 points

3^rd Matty Key ILCA7 15 points

4^th Charles Fox and Rob Blakebrough/Ron Williamson N18 21 points

5^th Lyra Wade ILCA7 22 points

However in the 3 races still remaining all that can change, so plenty to race for and to watch.

Thanks to the OOD, Rob Hatley and his team of Tim Ginn in the box and Philip Worsley with Peter Konidaris in the Patrol boat.

Thanks also to the catering team of Jessica, Jennifer and Maisie for serving a tasty Jean Michel creation of macaroni cheese with spinach, sweetcorn and bacon followed by apple crumble and custard, and for tending to the bar.

Last updated 10:50 on 13 August 2025