SAILORS from Steeple competed in the final of the British Keelboat League over the weekend.

A team of Marconi sailors, who sail from their clubhouse on the banks of the Blackwater in Steeple, travelled to Cardiff Bay last weekend (September 4-5) to compete in the final leg of the British Keelboat League.

With ambitions of a "top half" finish in the competitive event against 14 other teams, helmsman Daniel Nickalls, Hannah Bard, Jack Wardell and David Nickalls, found themselves in 2nd place after day one.

They had started the day steadily and finished off with three wins in their final three races, but there were five teams all within just a few points of each other at the top of the league.

Marconi started off day two where they had left off, winning their first three races of the day which saw them in top position, a place they held through to the final race.

Race 35 saw the two Cardiff teams who were 2nd and 3rd placed overall line up against Marconi and it was to be the decisive race for the sailors, as both Cardiff teams still had additional races to sail and could still beat Marconi to top spot.

The Marconi team won the British Keelboat League, and the team will now progress to the final event in Poole in 3 weeks time to compete for a place to represent Britain in the Sailing Champions League.

After the event, David Nickalls said: "We have a great team and we were up against some really strong competition from the other clubs, but once we became familiar with the boats, we were able to sail fast and tactically to win out.”

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The Marconi club own a fleet of keelboats and anyone interested in getting started should contact the club at marconi-sc.org.uk.