Sailing: Smith cruises to a smooth victory
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Your support makes all the difference.Lawrie Smith, Britain's sole sailing medallist at the Olympics, won the Ultra 30s Grand Prix series at Hartlepool when the final race was abandoned because of the wet and windy conditions.
Smith and Black Bottle have had an easy run through the six- regatta series, and were again the leading scorers, winning two of the weekend's three races before the weather, which also kept the number of spectators down to a minimum, intervened.
The significance of holding the finale at Hartlepool is that the Teesside Development Corporation is backing - with nearly pounds 500,000 of sponsorship - the new pounds 150m marina at the core of the docks renaissance programme. The lion's share goes to a yacht, promoting the marina, in the forthcoming British Steel Challenge; the port was also a stopover in the recent Round Britain Race.
It was also important for the Ultras, still searching for the perfect formula of arena yacht racing for a wide television audience. The transition from exhibition racing to needle matches will have to wait for another year.
While the Ultras had a short day, the women's national keelboat championship for the Esso Macnamara's Bowl went the distance at Lymington, with Berita van der Werff of the Netherlands winning the J24 class. Her compatriot, Kim Amons, was second. Cordelia Eglin was the leading Briton in third place.
In the CHS class local competitors Titch Blachford and Carol Strickland won in Smokey IV, followed by Inga Featherstone of Burnham in Harmony '87 and Sylvia Pepin third in Nazca II.
Van der Werff has four times been women's J24 national champion in the Netherlands and is a previous 420 world champion. Her two firsts and two seconds held off Amons, whose best results from the five-race series were a first, two seconds and a third.
Dave Chatterton's Sensor rounded off Burnham week by winning the top prize of the regatta, the Town Cup on Saturday.
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