Beck Trophy final races at Overy Staithe Sailing Club
by Andy Turner 3 May 19:28 UTC
2 May 2026
Saturday 2nd May provided a perfect early morning for the Seafarer's Pennant race, which was also the 3rd race of the club's Beck Trophy. The wind was a steady force 2 south westerly and came with brilliant sunshine.
The fleet split on the start line with the sea wall side paying and Alex and Paul in their Sharpie arriving first at the first mark followed by Andy Turner in his OK ahead of a cluster of OKs snapping at his heels. Alex Scoles in his OK set about catching the Sharpie while Bernard Clark and Spike Turner were both trying to figure out a way past Andy on a course with very few beats. Eventually they managed it but not enough to offset the personal handicaps in use. In the meantime Rob Archer in his Laser and Mark Beck in his Europe closed from behind on the OKs.
1st OK Alex Scoles 2343
2nd Laser Rob Archer 2365
3rd Sharpie Alex Smith & Paul Beachell 2367
4th OK Andy Turner 2368
5th OK Bernard Clark 2390
Sunday May 3rd saw the fleet racing for the Shipwrecked Mariners Pennant, which was also race 4 of the Beck Trophy.
It proved to be a very light and frustrating race in which the juniors did extremely well just to finish in their Toppers. The wind was a south westerly force 1, sometimes less.
The OKs started well with Alex Scoles in the lead at the first mark followed by Bernard Clark and Mark Beck in his Europe. Pete Turner went back even though he wasn't over the line at the start. However on the first run a minor luffing match between Bernard and Alex left a nice gap along the edge of the marsh and out of the tide for Pete to sail into, which he did and took the lead, never to be headed.
Further back the Sharpie of Alex Smith and Paul Beachell was doing it's best to catch up after a moderate start but short tacking is not the Sharpie's forte and they struggled to make headway. Andy Turner finished third, only to be informed that he was OCS, rather disappointing after an 80 minute test of patience on the water. Amongst the clinker built boats Paul Goakes and Natasha Dow sailed well to finish 9th with Will Worsley and Sam Britton in 8th in a Family 14.
1st Bernard Clark (OK)
2nd Pete Turner (OK)
3rd Sam Worsley (Laser Radial/ILCA 6)
4th Mark Beck (Europe)
5th Alex Smith/Paul Beachell (Sharpie)
Beck Trophy
Four races were sailed, with 3 to count, with personal handicaps applied. Those undertaking duties were allocated average points for the races which they were on duty. A total of 22 boats competed over the 2 weekends and 4 races.
1st Pete Turner
2nd Bernard Clark
3rd Alex Smith/Paul Beachell
4th Spike Turner
5th Mark Beck