GOOD weather returned the following morning for the eight boats which competed in the annual pursuit race to the Helford, writes Chris Davis.

The race is a long-standing fixture in the Mylor racing calendar. The aim is to race to the Helford, have a convivial time there in good company and sail back home when you are quite ready.

In normal racing everyone starts together and the finish can become a procession; in pursuit racing boats have their individual start times, calculated on their handicaps, and if all goes well they should finish more or less together.

The slowest boat in this race was Tilly of Mylor, skippered by Barry Edgington, so she started first, and managed to hold off the chasing boats until she was perhaps a mile from the Helford entrance.

The First 285, the Tony Hardman helmed Wizard of Clee, was the penultimate boat to start this morning, and she gradually picked off the others one by one, finally taking first place just thirty seconds or so before the target finish time of 12.30 pm.

Perhaps the handicaps are about right for this flee, although complacency when handicapping is a dangerous thing.

The Sadler 25 Tomaray, captained by Jon Myers, had started one minute earlier than Wizard and came second just one minute later, after about ninety minutes’ racing.

There was an excellent tussle for third place on the last leg of the course, between Tilly of Mylor and the Trintella 29 Meka, manned by Mike Lithgow. This finished with Tilly taking third place by about twenty seconds.

The other boats were not far behind, but it was disappointing that the First 217 Nirvana, skippered by Tim Rowley, had to retire with a broken rudder fixing. The boat was motored over to Helford and joined the others in the anchorage.

RESULT 1st Wizard of Clee - T Hardman, 2nd Tomaray - J Myers, 3rd Tilly of Mylor - B Edgington.