Glory for Dovestone Sailing Club

MAKE WAY: Patrick Heston overtakes his dad, John, to win the All-comers ‘A’ spring series.

SAILING: DOVESTONE Sailing Club have been making waves at home and abroad.

Ian Jones clinched the European Laser Radial Masters Championship in Cyprus.

Up against 34 competitors and racing over the space of a week in the sea off Limassol, Jones, who lives in Stalybridge, posted a string of excellent results in the Radial section, which is for lighter participants.

The Laser, an Olympic class boat, is one of the most-widely raced sailing dinghies in the world, and the event was made up of mostly national and regional champions from across Europe.

With virtually every race producing a different winner, and the final places not being decided until the last lap of the last race of the series, it was Jones’ consistency in finishing among the top 10 and being allowed to discard his worst two places of seventh and eighth, that clinched the trophy.

Jones’ Dovestone colleagues, Dave McKee and Chris Hewson, triumphed in the Flying 15 Northern Championships — a competition once won by the Duke of Edinburgh.

Facing a field of 50 boats at Derwent Reservoir, Cumbria, they earned four wins out of five, each sailed in different wind conditions.

And youth squad star Patrick Heston has also won his first open age trophy in the All-comers ‘A’ spring series on Dovestone itself.

Fast becoming one of the club’s top sailors at any age, he demonstrated his ability to carve out results against stronger and more experienced helms.

He will be looking to play a big role in this summer’s inter-club youth events, as well as develop coaching skills with younger members.

Martin Edmondson took the All-comers ‘B’, while Ian Dyson and Anne Webb got their hands on the flying 15 prize.