Tonight’s swim was a solid test over a 1300m course on a moderately strong outgoing tide. Lucas Bell did his usual trick of jumping out from the gun and by the time he rounded the dolphin navigation marker he had a clear lead.
A slight navigation glitch had him wrapped around the second marker buoy as the tide swept swimmers south, but he then cleared out to a good win by 47 seconds over Finn Bryant, who had a good deal of difficulty in shaking off a persistent Ben Marshall – just a second further back in third.
Finn’s result lifts him ahead of Jasper Sneddon in the 16-19 age group table. Jasper finished in fourth, but can’t make up the difference with only one swim to go.
Lilly Claridge led the women’s field home, ahead of Nia Linyard, Conor Tarrant and Christina Harris.
Here’s the photos, by Ruth Leckey. Thanks Ruth for your great work this summer.