JEFF SPELLER dominated the Hardy Cup competition last Sunday to become St Catherine’s SC champion.

Speller won four of the five races in the fleet of Laser Radials.

The remainder of the fleet had to be content with battling for minor positions with Ian Simpson initially looking good to pick up a second place in the first race only to hit the committee boat at the finish line and drop to fifth.

Both Jeremy Barnes and Tony Newcombe, who don’t normally sail Lasers, kept the pressure on Martin Speller and Joel Lucas, but it was Speller who finished second with Lucas third.

The weekend was the culmination of the year’s racing with sail-offs for junior and senior club championships.

On Saturday the juniors competed for the Macready Cup, sailed in Toppers, and the Little Hardy Cup, sailed in Optimists.

The first race of the Macready saw the whole of the Topper fleet disqualified for sailing an incorrect course! The competition started proper in the second race with Chloe Denoual showing good form and looking comfortable after the third race.

However, Tim Faudemer started to apply pressure, beating Denoual in the final two races to tie for points and, having won the final race, just won the cup.

Third place went to Emma Speller, followed by a very creditable fourth for Leo Scholfield in his first year sailing the Topper dinghy.

The club’s top Optimist sailors did not disappoint the spectators.

As the morning progressed a skilful battle ensued between Charles Perkins, Fleur Moisan and Laurence Carter with Alex Harrison never far behind.

In the end it was Moisan’s consistency with three seconds and two firsts that ensured she took the Cup from Perkins followed by Carter and Harrison.

The Commodore’s Regatta was held on the previous Sunday with 21 boats on the water in testing conditions with light and variable winds.

In the senior fleet Ian Moisan and Malcolm Le Couteur led both races in their ISO only to be beaten – subject to a protest hearing – on corrected time by Jeff Speller in his Laser standard.

Father and son Barry and Tim Faudemer had a close match with Tim beating his dad in the first race only to have positions reversed in the second.

The junior trophy was also hotly contested between Emma Speller and Lydia Carter, both sailing Laser Radials, and Henry Perkins in his Streaker with positions changing regularly.

But the honours eventually went to Speller after finishing first in the second and final race.

The very competitive Optimist fleet continues to go from strength to strength with a good performance by all competitors.

The lead pack involved Fleur Moisan, Laurence Carter, his sister Laura-Jane and Henry Legg with the final positions again depending on the result of a protest hearing.