TENDRING sailors competed against some of the best in the country as the Hurricane Catamaran Association visited Clacton Sailing Club as part of their Travelling Trophy Series.

Despite four entries from the host club, and the advantage of local knowledge, it was the visitors that cleaned up.

Neil Connelly and Trevor Barden scoring decisive bullets in each of the six races to take the trophy.

Line honours in race one were keenly-contested, with Matt Burrell and crew Dan Brzezinski going over early. Rather than restart, they chose to sail the entire race course, treating it as their discard.

Larry Foxon and Mike Rolfe were first to capsize and, despite re-righting without assistance, they also chose to retire.

Another local boat, helmed by Brian Allen, lost crew Ian Wright overboard during a desperate attempt to avoid capsizing and was also forced to retire.

The start line of race two was more orderly and some sort of pecking order began to establish itself.

Thorpe Bay sailor Julian Reichert, with crew Jeremy Sandford, had to settle for second place by a four-second margin.

The other Clacton boat, helmed by Liam Wright, with Robert Mitchell as crew, capsized as they bore away for the short reach to the wing mark and retired.

They did, however, go onto become the highest-placed locals, finishing sixth.

Race three saw the first of the significant wind shifts that would go on to plague the event.

The Canvey Island team of Mark Wood and James Heys made the windward mark in second place and held this until the end of the fourth lap to score their highest place.

Overall, they managed a well-deserved third place.

The wind shift changed the dynamics of the upwind/downwind course and meant boats could fetch across the finish line.

On Sunday, race four got underway promptly with the residue of the falling tide and a shifting offshore wind.

Foxon, sailing with son James, showed great potential by getting to the windward mark in first place ahead of the fleet.

Their Hurricane is not fitted with the kite that makes the downwind leg so exciting and even though results are adjusted by handicap, it must have been disappointing for them to be over-taken by the faster boats.

Both races five and six required the course to be re-set as the wind continued to shift and the tide started to flood.

Frustrations were obviously building after a general recall in race five and there was some over-ambitious barging on the line.

Datchet sailors Paul Mcroy and Graeme Staddon called for 'no water' from three local boats that had dropped-in to windward, requiring penalty 360 turns.

They kept a calm head and went onto finish fourth and fourth overall.

Race officials struggled to start the final race of the regatta until the wind finally settled into the south. Larry and James Foxon again showed signs of brilliance, making the windward mark in second place but not enough to upset the overall rankings.

Visitor Andrew Bedford, with crew Robert Taylor, completely epitomised the essence of the sport and the Hurricane fleet in particular by finishing each race with broad smiles of satisfaction, promising to return for next year’s event as one of the best venues on the circuit.