'Why don't we all go to the remotest village in Britain and sail our boats?' said our class president Colin. Actually, he didn't quite say that, but he might as well have done.

Kielder in Northumberland is the UK's most remote village. But they also have the UK's largest man made lake. Kielder water is over 10 sq. km in area and is set largely in a pine forest. It is extremely beautiful in May, before the midges get going.

The Kielder Water SC hold an open meeting over the Mayday weekend, and this year, the BACCA decided to turn up to see what mayhem we could cause in an area that has not seen too many A Class cats before. As one of our number sails in Scotland, we thought we would give it a go.

Our 9 strong fleet turned up on the Friday afternoon and were greeted by a bunch of very friendly and helpful club members Ð not something that you always get at some open meetings it must be said. But this is near Geordieland, so what else would one expect?! The forecast for the weekend was supposed to be a little blowy but sunny too. However, the actual weather was very blowy and mainly overcast. Dropping off by Monday.

The format was to be three races over two days with the separate Dam to Dam Challenge on the Monday. We were the only cats in attendance, but we were given our own start for the open.

Saturday turned out very blustery. Gusts of 35mph and pretty cold. 6 boats headed for the start area. Jamie Walker managed to get his cascading mainsheet in a knot and capsized on the way. Then the pin sank and in the waiting about, Gordon (I only brought a wetsuit) Upton got all cold and decided to quit before hypothermia caused him to break his boat or himself, and as the Alpine Supernationals was just around the corner, it seemed stupid to continue.

Phil Neal won race 1 in fine style on his Sheurer with Struan Wallace following on his DNA in a building wind. Race 2 was an interesting one -  this time Dave Lowe was a DNF following his 'incident'.

It started when he ran into the committee boat's anchor line, with such force that both the race officers ended up on the floor. Not satisfied that he had made sufficient effort, he then capsized. We were most impressed with the speed that the rescue boat attended the scene. However, the fact that it was actually underneath his sail at the time certainly helped. Dave had managed to drop on top of them. In future, a 9m-exclusion zone was declared around A cats just in case he did it again.

The race was a survival battle as the wind was really blowing by now. Both Phil and Struan stopped going out on the wire by now and just sat hiking out. Only Derek Gibb trapezed and nearly got a 2^nd for his trouble. The issue was that he missed out to spreader mark in his excitement and received a 9 as a result.  Struan was given 2nd instead.

The next day was warmer and a little less windy. Only 18-26 mph. 6 of the 9 travelers got the remaining three races in this time. Discovering a definite lift on the left of the course upwind, but the opposite side favoured the downhill legs. Dave, Derek and Gordon playing nip and tuck for 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th places behind Phil. Good racing was had by all. And everyone stayed upright too.

The Kielder Dam To Dam Challenge is run on Monday. The wind was a much kinder 10mph. There was to be a mass start of all the competitors Ð a great mixed bag including a Contender, Ospreys, Miracles, Toppers and a Foiling Moth to name but a few. 25 in all. And, this time, all 9 of us had a go.

The start technique was really trying not to ram anyone on the line. A few anxious looks backwards from some of the dinghy crews reminded us that our speed difference was something to bear in mind, when if you pass too close to windward of a Topper you could suck all the wind from his sail and stuff him in.

The first mark was up a small leg towards the cruiser club. As with the day before, staying near the left hand side of the course gave a bit of a lift. Rounding that mark, we all headed down and around a peninsula into the main body of the lake. Kielder is basically a Z shaped flooded river valley. Deciding how close in to take the corners is such fun! Do you sail much farther out for better wind, or try to cut in closer to save distance? It would have helped if the wind had not started to play the 'let's see if we can blow where no one is' game. This resulted in boats running all over the place to try to get into a breeze, only to find it gone when they got there.

Eventually we managed to get all the way to the top dam. Phil had pulled out a freakishly long lead at one point that divine intervention was suspected. On the way back there were fewer wind shadows and the wind gradually filled in so when we arrived back at the lower end of the lake, Dave and Gordon had pulled out a good lead behind Phil. Colin Bannister was starting to catch up too, but then his tiller fell off and he crashed.

We all finally crossed the line all out on the wire again and as is often the case with handicap racing, were all soundly beaten by the dinghies. However, the Moth took 3 hrs. to complete. The valiant but pointless effort gained him a big cheer as he crossed the line long after we had all put our boats on the trailers and had lunch!

Kielder Water is a lovely place to sail, albeit looking like really cold tea, due to the peat content. The club is friendly and we were all treated to lovely hospitality and cheap beer. Same again next year guys?

Starring...

Struan (what's that smell?) Wallace	Gordon (could loose a few kg) Upton	Dave (total exclusion zone ) Lowe
Jamie (Drop Short) Walker	Derek (Flying Scotsman) Gibb	Phil (deceptively competitive) Neal
Race 3 start	Not trapezing, too scary!	Excellent rescue response for Dave.

The Carsington club has a fair number of cats and has, for several years held a cat open later in the year. But this year it was decided to split the fleets and hold a fast cat open in April and a slow cat open in September.

It was always tricky trying to manage a general cat open given the wide variety of types turning up to race. Those big laundry flyers wanted windward/leeward courses, the Dart 15s wanted to go around the cans. This resulted in the past with some unusual courses, to say the least, with the Darts usually winning out.

But now, with their own dedicated cat open, the fast lads finally get their way. This also results in somewhat safer racing as the boats are all of a similar speed range. Nothing worse than blasting upwind in an A cat to find a freshly tacked Catapult has suddenly arrived in your lane! Ð no disrespect to Catapults of course!

This year's weather, however, had decided not to play ball. It was pretty obvious earlier on in the week that something was afoot meteorologically. From snow only 10 days earlier, things were hotting up as a system moved in raising the temperature but also the wind. Inside, we all knew Sunday was going to be a wipeout. This may be the reason for the relatively poor turnout. There were 6 F18s, 3 A Cats (Dave Lowe, Jamie Walker and Gordon Upton), 2 Hurricanes and 2 Spitfires. But, this did mean more water to go around. We also decided to go for a single start, as we are all friends here!

With this in mind, the race officer decided to put to the vote that we try to get 5 races in on the Saturday. Being an F18 and Hurricane 5.9 TT, this would count as a series. It was unanimous. 5 races it was, each lasting 40-45 mins. The windward/leeward course was set and off we went at 12.15. The wind was Southish at about F3-4ish. The 'ish' part is important.

Race one - Predictable first leg, the  'A' Cats showing their usual upwind pace and outpointing all comers, the tanks followed. Rounding the top mark and spreader, the tanks then opened up with the laundry. A Somewhat alarming event when the leading one, usually Grant Piggott, is not far behind you. But their deeper angles soon saw them clear away. This continued for 4, 5, 6 laps - I don't know because I was getting dizzy by then and the course was quite short, until finally we were told at the last top mark to finish at the next leg. So far, so good. Jamie survived, as it was his first outing in anger on his newly acquired Aussie Flyer - See previous race report to the reason for this acquisition. I was the first and Dave second in the Fast Handicap class.

Race two for me saw the wheels come off. After getting into irons at the layline tack at the top mark, remember the 'ish'? I tacked right into a wind-shift, stopping dead, destroying the impressive lead I had over Dave, who swept past. So, we chased downwind but the gap remained much the same. Both electing to take the starboard bottom mark and rounded on starboard, as in the first race, I had noticed a significant lift on that side of the course. Then, with Dave about 50 yards ahead, it was his turn to cock up a tack. However, there was this rogue F 18 just to windward of him who tacked onto port at the same time, despite checking to see where I was first. 'He thinks he's faster than he actually is!' was my initial thought, but I dismissed that immediately. 2 seconds later the thought was reinstated again, 'Oh no, he actually does think this!!' My own fault really, people's inability to correctly judge the speed of an uphill traveling  'A' cat is pretty common, come to think of it. Then realizing his ghastly error, he slowly tacked back again. Too late! In order to avoid the now totally stationary F 18, I had to make a hand-break turn to starboard. Would have been a nice tack if only I had not forgotten I was fully out on the wire first! Teabag time. The boat dutifully, elegantly (it is an 'A' cat after all) and after taunting and teasing me for about 15 seconds that it might not actually decide to fall over to windward at all, it fell over to windward. The F 18 sailed off seemingly unaware of the carnage left behind. No penalty turn, nothing! Maybe I should protest? Na, no point.

After swimming around the stern to try to get onto the bottom hull, it then decided to try to make and attempt on my life and drown me. Traveling so fast downwind , I was actually in serious danger of being keelhauled by my own boat. This was starting to not be fun any more. Finally managing to get back to the rudder end, it swept past me like that shark scene in jaws- you know the one, where the kid falls out of the boat after that older bloke has just been eaten and then just sees the fin just go right past him? Finally I'm pulled from the water, like a gaffed tuna, by the rescue crew, who very expertly walked the mast upright and plonked be back on board. Dave was first 'A' cat, I was second with Jamie bringing up the rear.

Race 3 was both Jamie's and Dave's turn to teabag and capsize, Dave at almost exactly the same point as mine. Jamie simply sailed into another hole. The wind was moving more easterly so was coming from more over the hills, making it shifty, but still an F3 but with blasts of something else in both strength and direction. Jamie now started to discover some downhill speed and was close behind Dave at the finish. He called it a day after that one.

Race 4 consisted of me making a series of disastrous technical and tactical errors in the shifting and gusty conditions. I even had to put in a tack between the top mark and the spreader as the wind had shifted that much. So, I never got into contention and Dave ran away with that one. Then his little fingers went all cold and he had to go home. 'Great' I thought, 'if I do the last one, I've clinched our little championship!' 1^st, 2^nd, 2^nd 1^st , just another 1^st if I can stay on the dry side.

Race 5 followed after the course as backed more Sou'easterly. Really into the shifty part now! This time, noticing the line was still the same, the shifted wind was making it really port biased, I reasoned, fairly,  I'm faster than any starting F18, I can do a port flyer if I have the nerve. The sort of nerve required to run across the start line of the Grand National just before it goes off? Easy - this could only end brilliantly! So, imagine my surprise when..... This wayward F 18, getting a bit ahead of himself, decided to barrel right along the line to avoid crossing it. Gun goes off, and he is right in my way and now trying to squeeze over the line at the pin end. 'A' class neatly dips behind, right into the path of a buffalo stampede. So, I fast tacked just in before getting cleaned up by Andy Gallagher and end up downwind of the whole lot of them. 'Well, that worked nicely' thought I, '..must try that again some time!'

However, many now start to tack off and I build up speed enough to start to overtake a couple to leeward. I love the acceleration as you finally clear their dirty air. However, I still get to the top just behind Grant's boat in 2^nd place. The wind was really getting weird now. Gust, full out on the wire and luffing up, then big hole and watching the boat 20m away wiz past. But I managed to keep ahead of a few of the F18s for most of the time to finish alive. And beaten by a Spitfire, obviously.

But, I knew I had clinched our little 'A' class tussle!

Wrong. Lost on countback, or something. See? Should have protested shouldn't I ! Might have got a reinstated position! Not that I'm competitive or anything.

Sunday, as predicted was a write off. 25mph with 51mph gusts. We all voted to stay in the clubhouse and call it a day. Most had expected that to happen and had made plans the previous evening in the club as regards imbibing various beverages whilst listening to the live band and watching Jamie's 4 year old daughter. Molly. dancing like a loon.

Good fun in the end though. Thanks to Simon Gillis for doing the organizing and to Carsington SC for having us.

Knew I should have protested....

Gordon Upton

Lightish 6-8kt westerly winds characterised this year's Nats, held at Rutland Sailing Club. Unusually, the wind remained more or less the same for the whole three days of this year's championship leading to some tactical thinking by the competitors, with some careful sail choices and rig settings. As your sail choice has to live with you for the whole series, an accurate forecast interpretation is vital if you don't want to look a total dork should the conditions change markedly.

Friday's three races pretty much set the pattern as far as the first two places were concerned. Phil Neal in his Schurer G5 stretched out an unassailable lead in all three races, with Bob Fletcher with his Aussie Flyer in second. The left hand side of the course proving to be the best, most chose this and, with the 'A' Cat's beautifully high power to weight ratio, even in these light conditions all were out on the wire for most of the upwind legs. Whitstable DNA pilot, Mick Davidson was also looking good with a 3^rd and two 4^th places.

Bob's old Dart downwind skills came good in these marginal conditions with his deep angle and full out sail Ð having straight boards, no attempted 'Wild Thinging' for him, just get those forestay tell-tails flying at 90 degrees and sit on that front beam. It worked a treat for both him and Gordon Upton following on behind in his Aussie Flyer also.

The four race Saturday was slightly fresher, but not by much, maybe 10kts in parts, but the same direction. This also rendered the left the better side, a fact only remembered by Phil and Gordon at first, finishing 1 and 2 respectively in the first race. Bob noticed this by race two and was back 2^nd where he aimed to be. Apart from Lester Barr going for a swim and testing one of his patented 'getting back on board' devices, the most remarkable thing happened in race two was when this bloody cruiser just materialized between the top mark and the spreader mark. This created some panic as it decided to tack at this point causing Bob and several others to flee in all directions. A bit like if a cow were to suddenly appear on a football pitch and wander into your own 22yrd box during an away team attack.

The third race saw the wind go up a little, but still good on the left. Phil looked unassailable but Colin Bannister scraped a 2^nd from Dave Lowe in third, squeezing Bob back to 4^th. Struan Wallace, who had his boat shunted the week before, arrived 'sans A cat' just to give Danny Clark somewhere to sleep in his camper. He proceeded to poke fun, video, drink Crabbies, graciously lend a very full Hammer sail to Gordon which proved a perfect light airs match for his larger boned pie-filled frame and was then generously lent a Bim V1 by Lester Barr, so got a couple of races in and finished 7^th.

By the final Saturday race, Danny Clark had found his form in his sexy grey DNA to claim 2^nd ahead of Bob. Gordon and Colin had an incident at the top mark on the final lap, that left Colin capsized and out of the race. So, after clinically removing a fellow competitor from the race and doing his penalty turn, he still managed a 5^th.

Sunday dawned in a virtual flat calm. However, by the 10.30 start of the final two races, it was blowing a massive force 2, gusting force 2.5 so flat out trapezing was still on the cards. The first race saw Phil, already the new National Champion, get another bullet, Dave Lowe 2^nd and Gordon 3^rd with Bob 4^th. The top two positions were decided, but the 3^rd was still up for grabs for Dave and Gordon, with him only needed to finish just behind Dave to clinch it.

The final race was scheduled for 4 laps rather than 3. All started well for everyone except for Gordon who was blocked out at the committee boat end by Derek Gibb, the farthest travelled competitor, all the way down from Largo Bay in Scotland and started well back in last place. The wind then proceeded to drop and shift about. With Phil there again in 1st and Bob in 2^nd. Dave finished 3^rd. Gordon tried to make up lost ground on the downwind light airs leg by sailing on a dead run and succeeded in cutting half the distance on the rest of the fleet as they all sailed higher in search of wind. However, the race was shortened before he could catch Dave and with Derek in his best finish of 4^th and Danny slipping in just ahead, he finished 6^th. You could have heard the anguished cries in his head! Dave won on countback.

With European Champ Chris Field and UK No 2 Nigel Lovett absent, together with a few other promised entrants not turning up, it was a disappointing turnout of some 13 boats. However, the resultant racing was remarkably close and competitive. Rutland regulars Richard Bartholomew, Jamie Walker and Tony Lampitt, although being near the back of the fleet, all gained valuable experience and tips, and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We managed to get all 9 scheduled raced in and much enjoyment was had in spite of the light conditions. The boat's ability to carve upwind with the crew full on the wire in all but really drifty conditions is what makes it so loved by those in the secret society of the A Class sailor. If you sail one, you will know what we mean, if you don't then you should!

On a personal note - I hope that that Dave Lowe trips over his little 3^rd place cup and squashes his cat! - but I'm not bitter!

Gordon

Bob Fletcher, Phil Neal and Dave Lowe with their spoils

Going Dutch.  The tale of the 2012 Dutch 'A' Class Nationals.

Five in the morning, yes that's FIVE in the MORNING! Colin Bannister and I set off from Leicester for the 9.00 Harwich - Hook of Holland ferry. Our trailer was loaded up with a couple of 'A' cats and we were bound to Hellevoetsluis for the Dutch Nats.

Half way along the A14 we sighted and hunted down Jamie Walker and Tony Lampitt, another Rutland pair doing the same. An uneventful crossing deposited us all just a 45min drive from the Hellecat club.

The club is situated on the northern side of the Haringvliet, one of the arms of the Rhine delta and has a dyke, with windmills, at its western end. This creates a large lake-like area of flat fresh water, and the clubhouse is in the dunes. I was disappointed with the windmills though, they didn't look anything like the ones I saw in books as a kid, no mice, nothing. However, they were very useful as a wind direction aid. I think we should get some fitted to the Rutland Water dam to create the same effect.

After dragging the boats round onto the beach, best done using their tractor, not Colin's Suzuki Vitara, as it started to emit a rather pungent smell from it's clutch in the deep soft sand, we went off to the Camp De Quack camping site. This was where the fun started. Having all pre-booked, but arriving after closing, Colin and I found that another RSC member, Phil Neal, had a barrier key whom we followed through. Phil was fresh down from the Swiss Nats the week before. Jamie's entry attempt fell down when he was overtaken by an Irish gentleman, who promptly parked his car virtually under the open barrier, declaring everything would be just fine. Jamie stupidly took this guy at his word and drove in. The resulting banging noise on his van roof indicated that it may not have been as fine as he first thought. The Irishman just drove off saying he had never seen it do dat before.   

Thursday saw us get rigged and go out for a play in a nice F3 breeze. Chris Field and his 'Wunderkind' mate Sam Newton were already out setting up and practicing going fast. Colin practiced righting his Scheurer. The Rutland crew then retired to the Shamrock bar up the beach.

Friday was the first race day. Lots of sun, not much wind. Finally, the windmills started to move and racing was on the cards. Three races scheduled, F 2 winds suited the 'Lighter Gentlemen' and these were the ones who were at the front in addition to the obvious ones ; Chris Field, Sjoerd Hoekstra, Thilo Keller etc Shifty winds meant that the wrong choice of course side was a deal breaker, with most opting for the left.

Arno Briefing

Hans Klok had an interesting surprise on the start when Thomas Becker sheeted in at the gun, only to let it go, bringing his Flyer S mast crashing down to windward onto Hans' foredeck. Nicely captured by Jamie's GoPRO camera for posterity.

The first day finished with Chris in the lead, despite only getting three 2^ndÕs as Sjoerd had two bullets but then a 6^th. The other Team GBR guys finished with Sam 12^th, Phil 13^th, Colin 28^th, yours truly in 32^nd - (Flat sail and a fat bloke), Tony 34^th and Jamie, in his first foreign outing in 36^th. 36 ran. The Rutland crew then retired to the Shamrock bar up the beach.

Day two started with gusto though. We heard the wind start up at about 4am in the tents. The forecast was to build throughout the day so an early start was scheduled for 9.30. Many of the 'Lighter Gentlemen', including Tony, considered discretion the better part of valor and settled into the clubhouse for the planned excitement.

A good F4 gusting nearly 6 was what we had. Three more races planned. Only experience and/or being a big fan of pies keeps you alive in these conditions. However, the gusts were not blasting affairs or massively shifty so some superb racing was had by those who braved it. Colin and Jamie stuffed theirs in and both retired before the first start, Colin with a slipping traveller and Jamie having come to the end of his experience.

Chris did his usual and Sam was impressive on his DNA, being only slightly heavier than a wet gnat, was blasting along to finish in 6^th overall. Phil nursed his Scheurer around with a permanent grimace coming 12^th overall and, remember the fat bloke with the flat sail? Well I was now in my element and dragged my score up to 23^rd overall. Would have been higher but I snapped a daggerboard on the reach to the spreader mark in race three.

Then the real fun started. As the last race finished, we all became aware of a dark mass of rain coming rapidly towards the beach. As Chris was first to finish, he simply continued racing right up to the beach shouting something about it's going to be carnage. The rain/wind arrived, as did the rest of the fleet, daggers out and rudders up, so under minimal control in a force 6. What fun we had, staggering about helping to get rudders up on boats where the hapless occupants could just cling to the forestays. Then it was over and the sun came out again.

The wind was due to get even stronger so many boats dropped masts and got lashed to the floor for the night. The Rutland crew then retired to the Shamrock bar up the beach. (Notice a pattern forming?)

Day three's racing was eventually scrubbed by Arno. It was a good F5 and windsurfers had started to appear - always a bad sign. So we all packed out toys back in their boxes and the Rutland crew then retired to the Shamrock bar up the beach.

The victor with his spoils

The Hellecat club put on a valiant effort and made us all very welcome, even the briefing was done in English, which was particularly thoughtful. We fully intend to be back next year.

The trip home was uneventful apart from when Tony nearly had a heart attack - well he is 76!. Jamie had managed to persuade him to buy dinner on the boat. At the end, we all gradually left, rather like that scene in the Sound Of Music, so he suddenly found himself alone as the full bill arrived and was quickly surrounded by waiters. The image of him frantically looking about for his 'mates' will live with us forever - worth the whole trip alone! 

Going Dutch? Yea, right!

Gordon Upton

As the sun sets on this hauntingly desolate part of the Essex coast and the calls of Curlew and Oyster Catcher echo across the flat landscape. Situated on the southern side of the River Blackwater estuary, this corner of Essex was apparently overlooked by the compilers of the Doomsday Book in 1086 as being too far and of no interest. Had the tried, they would have eventually found the Bradwell Nuclear power station and Stone Sailing Club.

This was the BACCA's second 2012 ranking event and at the beginning of the week, it looked as though only two A Cats were going to enter. However, by the Wednesday, eight had suggested they were coming so it was game on for our own start. In the end, seven turned up; Chris Field, Nigel Lovett, Struan Wallace, Lester Barr, Colin 'two dinners' Bannister, Matt Burnett and Gordon Upton.

Saturday. Southerly F2-3 with broken cloud. Three races.

The A Cats were the second start, giving us time to watch where the Hurricanes went in search of the best wind. With the tide flowing in left to right, the left side looked the best, so the tide would drag us down towards the top mark. This was the side most of us favored, however, the Hurricanes seemed to miss this tactic and we found ourselves on port approaching the mark having caught up the tail enders and finding them barreling down towards us on starboard, making for some interesting conversations between the classes..

All was good in the end with few incidents, other than a Hurricane stuffing in on the bottom mark leaving about 40 ft. for 3 more fast approaching Hurricanes on port, who were frantically dropping their laundry and Gordon coming in on starboard to thread the needle through the resulting carnage.

In another race, Lester was left chasing down another hurricane who got himself hooked up on the bottom mark and ran off with it, meaning he had to round the fleeing boat first in order to complete his lap.

Chris and Nigel were on usual form with 1^st and 2^nd in all races. Struan and Gordon fought closely for 3^rd with the position changing several times in each race.

Matt, in his first A Cat event suffered a succession of minor breakages for his XJ and retired for the day just after starting the first race. The A Class is a cruel mistress!

Sunday. North F2 overcast with showers promised. Two races.

At about 4;30 AM most in campers or tents were woken by 'big rain'. This continued as most decided to get up to see what was going to happen. Miserable faces and much muttering abounded as a consensus was formed that as we came here we really should try to race. So, as we donned damp rash vests the rain all but stopped right on time. With the earlier start and 180 degree wind shift, it was felt that the right side of the course was now favorite with the incoming tide.

However, there seemed to be more wind on the left, but we only discovered this half way through the race as the marginal trapezing conditions shifted about. Matt finally got to start and showed good speed. Struan and Gordon continued their duel with a very close finish in race 4

Before the race, we had discussed with Lester how he could improve his techniques and we all jokingly decided that if he got in front of Chris, that would be a help. This he did with spectacular success on the start line of the fifth race causing some spluttering from the European No.1 He then rounded the top mark in 3^rd place. It was thought that getting rammed by Colin between the races galvanized him into action. Nigel and Chris had swapped boats for the 5^th race, the idea being that Nigel needed to find out if it was actually him or his boat that needed tuning........ Turns out it was him.

In all it was a better than expected open, the weather was better than we had dared at the start and the club ran a good meeting. I think a few other clubs could learn from Stone, they have an all female committee boat running things so few dare to argue. They take no prisoners.

Results

Datchet SC fast cat open 17/18^th March 2012

The fast cat open held at Queen Mother Reservoir provided a weekend of interesting sailing conditions, with a mixture of winds form 0 - 20kts and shifts of 90 degrees or more, Sunshine and squally rain added to our enjoyment over the two days. With over 30 cats on the water, the race committee did a brilliant job of getting 7 races in with one discard allowed.

The five A-classes were in the handicap fleet, racing against three Inter 20's and a Tornado. The first 12.30pm start had a slight delay as the race committee waited for the wind direction to settle and set a proper upwind leg or was it to let Lester, who's mainsheet got stuck, time to dry-out after an involuntary ducking but finally at quarter to one, the race got under way.

Chris field on his Vision leading the chasing A-class fleet of Nigel, Lester, Struan and newcomer Ian Molyneux mixed in with larger catamarans made for an interesting windward mark, with their spinnakers getting hoisted and every body looking for the right line to next mark. The scene was set for the next six races over the weekend and even if the results don't show it, the lead change several times due to the different weather conditions but each time Chris worked his magic to gain control.

As far as the A-classes that attended, It was great to get back on the water and the final rankings for the event as follows:

1^st Chris Field,

2^nd Nigel Lovett,

3^rd Struan Wallace,

4^th Lester Barr

5^th Ian Molyneux

Struan Wallace