As often seems to happen on the last weekend of March, the weather showed how changeable it can be! Saturday saw a great days racing, while Sunday was a bit strong for some of the lighter females. The Saturday schedule was for 3 races in the bright sunshine and 10-12mph shifty winds from the west or south west. Owen Delaney the Race Officer set a great course with a beat the full length of the broad.
The fleet were, typically, just a little too keen to get going! After the almost-inevitable general recall there was a 45 degree wind shift, which then went back to 
where it should be. The line was reset and we were off. A very tight first beat saw Jimmy Tubby and Richard Parker in 830 (Silver Fox) come storming into the windward mark on starboard, thus holding off Chris and Gill Jordan in Croc and Gary Fuller and Paul Welham in Echo. Jimmy was away down the first run, and then extended his lead to the finish. Behind him, the racing was extremely tight and place changes were happening on every leg of the course and were hard to keep track of! But importantly, Bryan and Jenny Riley in 73 Brimstone pulled up through the feet to take 2nd place.
where it should be. The line was reset and we were off. A very tight first beat saw Jimmy Tubby and Richard Parker in 830 (Silver Fox) come storming into the windward mark on starboard, thus holding off Chris and Gill Jordan in Croc and Gary Fuller and Paul Welham in Echo. Jimmy was away down the first run, and then extended his lead to the finish. Behind him, the racing was extremely tight and place changes were happening on every leg of the course and were hard to keep track of! But importantly, Bryan and Jenny Riley in 73 Brimstone pulled up through the feet to take 2nd place.A change of course for the second race saw quite a few boats on the wrong side of the beat at the wrong time. Croc said: Suddenly I had clear wind and I was off – But I should have looked to see why I had clear wind! Patrick Wilton and Mike Taylor from Haven Ports in 797 Crossfire read the final shift to the windward mark correctly – and they built a great lead, leaving the rest of the fleet to nip and tuck racing. Once again, it was Brimstone who worked their way up thru the fleet into 2nd place.
3rd race, and the course stayed the same. Croc got the final tack into the windward mark spot on, and then fought to keep the inside berth around the leeward mark. They then used the shifts to extend their lead on every leg, leaving the very close racing behind. Brimstone, predictably, finished 2nd!
A great meal was enjoyed by the fleet at RN&SYC, and those canny sailors in Brimstone were presented with both the Dolly Tiller for last summer’s points racing, as well as the Potty Trophy for “misdemeanours” during the year! Phil Aspinall from Royal Corinthian was either very pleased, or most disappointed, that someone else was chosen🙂.
Sunday saw totally clear skies – but a wind that couldn’t decide if it should be 20, or 30+ or 10mph! The gusts when they came were enough to put off some of the boats, but the keen ones were back on the water. 
Gary Fuller, with Kerr Sinclair crewing, was a little late to the start, and only had time to circle around the pin end – and then proceeded in a 30mph gust to cross the fleet with a port tack start! Richard Smith and Graham Reeve in 802 Flame nibbled away at them and took the lead on the 2nd lap before extending to the finish. Brimstone pulled up to 3rd.
Gary Fuller, with Kerr Sinclair crewing, was a little late to the start, and only had time to circle around the pin end – and then proceeded in a 30mph gust to cross the fleet with a port tack start! Richard Smith and Graham Reeve in 802 Flame nibbled away at them and took the lead on the 2nd lap before extending to the finish. Brimstone pulled up to 3rd.The final race, and we had our 5th race winner of the weekend: Brimstone took the win this time, and with it the overall trophy. Flame was tracking them closely for most of the race, before a very well executed run by Echo saw them squeeze into 2nd. A “can’t tack there” moment at the windward mark saw Flame doing 2 turns (despite the SI’s saying 1 turn was enough!).
The 3rd beat saw Crossfire getting the lift up into 2nd place, and therefore 2nd place overall. A very exciting Flame vs Echo beat ensued into the finish line, with Flame pinching it by about 6″ in the end, and grabbing 3rd place on the tie break from Echo in 4th overall. Richard Sullivan and Sue Harper in 810 Clever Dick were very pleased to be able to award themselves the Silver Fleet trophy!
Prizes were awarded, visitors and volunteers thanked, food and drink consumed, boats were lifted onto trailers, and everyone left for home by a respectable 3.00pm.