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After a blistering start, in clear air and fully powered up with a predicted 200m lead at the windward mark... we returned to mediocrity after a general recall was sounded. On the restart of the race we edged out to the left of the course looking for new wind, which we found along with a header that lifted us on port to the windward mark, which was obviously as a result of sacrificing our bananas to the wind/sea gods! Seven boats at the front of the fleet changed positions throughout the race all with very similar boat speed. Nick Broomhall, who was going well, lost his hat on the run, which we thought about retrieving but would have taken his wind and as a fellow Blithfield team member we didn't want to upset him. On the last leg the pack gained ground on the leading group as the breeze filled in from behind. We finished in 6th place which we were please with being in a 20 year old wooden boat.

After a gourmet ‘on the water' lunch, courtesy of the floating pasty palace, the postponement flag came down and we were all fighting fit for another race.

The fun began at the windward mark as the breeze picked up, and the reaches were superb – good course setting again thanks to the race officer. (Edit by Race Officer – thanks to Nigel Dowrick who sets the course for me!)

By the second reach Jerry was complaining about the sheet loads – next time we must remember to set the ratchet blocks!

Like most boats, we were unable to hold the kite on the second leg of the last triangle, and had some wonderful 2-sail reaching instead.

The rest of the race was uneventful, except for rounding the bottom mark on the last beat only to find Kenny taking penalty turns in front of us – naughty boy!

Both days the weather was nice and sunny and we had a decent amount of wind. At points it was a bit overpowering but we both managed to come out of it quite well.

Everybody managed to behave on the line apart from one race where most people were over and we had a general recall.

We had some fun 3 sail reaches and even better as we managed to stay upright! Some of the beats were pretty challenging because of all of the wind shifts and the lulls.

At the end of the first day, we both swapped helms, and we both sailed in together while the dads sailed in another boat – and we both managed to keep the boat upright, even with 2 sails. We really enjoyed the first two days and hope that it carries on like this!

The race started in much lighter conditions and the pin end biased start line saw many boats tacking off onto port soon after the start. At the windward mark the wind died to a whisper and many boats found themselves having to put in an extra tack or gybe round to miss hitting the mark, amongst them were 1290 Martin Cooney and Peter Frith who dropped from 1st to 9th allowing Rob Shaw and Ian Little in 1317 to round first followed by 1205 Gareth Caldwell and Jon Gibbons, 1311 John Batt and Nick Broomhall then 1331 Tim Rush and Robin Hobson.

Current leaders Colin Stephens and Mike Grieg in 1116 rounded 8th but by the second reach had already got up to 6th. On the next beat Rob Shaw and Tim Rush went right, unfortunate gear failure saw Rob Shaw drop out of the battle at the front but this paid massively for Tim Rush who gained the lead. Cooney/Frith managed to pass Stephens/Grieg and close up on 5th placed 1343 Richard and Mark Hartley. A tightly fought run saw the places remaining much the same. Tim Rush sailed away into an unassailable lead leaving Gareth and John Batt to contest second place.

The penultimate leg saw Cooney round just in front of Stephens with Hartley on his heels. The three spread out on the same tack with only a few boat lengths between. Cooney took the initiative half way down the run, gybing into a line of pressure . Stephens followed their lead, and closed the distance quickly trying to gain an inside overlap. Cooney defended and denied Stephens any room to manoever, using boat on boat tactics to round the mark ahead of Stephens, but letting Hartley through in the process.

The last beat was a delicate balance of maximising VMG with looking for pressure or wind shifts. In the battle for 4th – 6th Cooney played all his trump cards and crossed the finish ahead of Stephens. Hartley had drawn the joker, and came home in 6th.

Meanwhile, at the front, Caldwell/ Gibbons just held off Batt/ Broomhall by half a boat length to claim a hard first second.

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	R1	R2	R3	R4	Pts
1st	1116	Colin Stephens	Michael Grieg	2	1	2	-5	5
2nd	1331	Tim Rush	Robin Toozs-Hobson	-7	2	4	1	7
3rd	1343	Richard Hartley	Mark Hartley	3	3	1	-6	7
4th	1290	Martin Cooney	Peter Frith	1	-8	3	4	8
5th	1280	Steve George	Peter Grieg	6	4	5	-9	15
6th	1317	Robert Shaw	Ian Little	4	7	6	-15	17
7th	1205	Gareth Caldwell	Jon Gibbons	-11	6	10	2	18
8th	1311	John Batt	Nick Broomhall	9	10	-23	3	22
9th	1314	Viola Scott	Mike Scott	5	5	(DNF)	12	22
10th	1292	Paul Heather	Jonathon Osgood	8	-16	11	7	26
11th	1337	Paddy Lewis	Tom Holland	(OCS)	12	8	8	28
12th	1322	Mick Greenland	Lee Marriott	10	9	-12	10	29
13th	1334	Russell Gardiner	David Slater	12	(DNF)	9	16	37
14th	1299	Adam Ellery	Ce Royal	-13	11	13	13	37
15th	1319	Mike Pickering	Mike Priddle	(OCS)	13	7	19	39
16th	1338	Ken Brown	Chris Butters	15	14	-17	11	40
17th	1291	Alex Willis	Nick Willis	-20	20	14	14	48
18th	1199	Chris Winzar	Simon Pryce	(DNF)	17	16	18	51
19th	1329	David Springett	Jerry Dixon	17	-21	15	21	53
20th	1341	Nick Jones	Arthur Butler	14	18	-26	22	54
21st	1344	John Shenton	Steve Offer	16	19	19	-27	54
22nd	1318	Lou Geeson	Bob Hodkinson	18	15	(DNF)	24	57
23rd	1276	Alec Mamwell	Angela Mamwell	22	-23	18	20	60
24th	1004	Peter Cormie	James Grant	19	22	21	-33	62
25th	1164	Russell Wheeler	Jamie Andrews	21	25	-28	17	63
26th	1340	John Mills	Carolyn Mills	-28	27	20	25	72
27th	1181	Willy Crichton	Peter Jones	24	-26	22	26	72
28th	1088	John Bowden	Tim Bowden	27	24	-29	23	74
29th	1325	Robin George	Nicola George	23	-29	25	29	77
30th	1203	Michael Richardson	David Bourne	26	-28	24	28	78
31st	1245	Graham Thumwood	Kirstie McAlpine	25	-30	27	30	82
32nd	1260	Chris Woodward	Andrew Wilson	29	31	30	-32	90
33rd	1183	Lee Allen	Mark Mawhinney	30	DNF	(DNC)	31	95