New England Sailing Club has relinquished its firm grip on the Thunderbolt Trophy.
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The prize is one of the most coveted in the northern NSW sailing scene and was up for grabs at Lake Keepit on Sunday.
New England took on host club Lake Keepit in the regatta, which is decided by the scores of the top three boats.
Saturday’s heat was cancelled due to winds of more than 50km/h which saw just one boat not tumble over in the early sailing action.
But the weather gods certainly smiled come Sunday, with conditions described as perfect for the popular regatta.
Among the crafts on the water were Lasers, a one-person dinghy, the Corsair dinghy and catamarans.
When it came to the main team event, it was Lake Keepit which had the necessary answers to secure the trophy for the first time in a long time according to Commodore Ian Pine.
“I can’t remember the last time we had the trophy,” Pine said.
“It has been a number of years since we last won it because New England had a stranglehold of it.
“We’re delighted to have won the Thunderbolt Trophy.”
Pine was presented the trophy by his New England counterpart Bruce Floyd.
The trophy, named in honour of Captain Thunderbolt, has a history the renowned bushranger would be impressed with.
“It has been going for more than 30 years and the original trophy actually went missing a couple of years ago,” Pine said.
“Nobody knows where it went, nobody from either club can track it down, so we got a new one done up.”
Run in conjunction with the Thunderbolt Trophy was the Keepit Kup.
The event was won by the father-son combination of Stan and Grayem White, sailing their Corsair Dinghy with precision.
Commodore Pine added the Keepit Kup also boasted an intriguing history.
“The race actually started in 1970 and was a trophy for the inland sailing clubs,” he said.
“But Keepit never won it, Griffith took out in the first year and for the first 20 years it was won by clubs south from Burrandong.
“Carcoar Dam won the event for nine years in a row during the 1980s and people lost interest.
“So the trophy was put away somewhere and lost until earlier this year when a retired sailor was cleaning up at home and found the Keepit Kup.
“He handed it back to Carcoar, a club predominantly made up of young fellas now, so they said we could come down and collect it.
“We decided to resurrect the trophy for our club at the weekend, with Stan and Grayem winning.”
