Winter Championship 18th Feb 2012 wint12 SAIL NO. HELM CLUB Jnr R.1 R.2 R.3 Points PLACE 2134 Nick Craig Frensham Pond SC 1 1 1 2 1st 21 Richard Burton WOSC 2 2 2 4 2nd 2130 Deryck Lovegrove Burghfield SC 4 3 3 6 3rd 1774 Ben Crossdale Ogston SC Jnr 5 4 5 9 4 2141 Simon Davis Upper Thames SC 7 6 12 13 5 2101 Julian Burnham RYA 3 12 12 15 6 2123 Andy Turner Overy Staithe SC 12 12 12 24 7 1927 Colin Page Calshot SC 12 12 12 24 8 2125 Sam Thomson South Staffs SC Jnr 12 12 12 24 9 2067 Matthew Bates South Staffs SC Jnr 12 12 12 24 10 2026 Richard White Bristol Corinthian SC 12 12 12 24 11 Eleven keen OK sailors arrived at King George sailing club on Saturday 18th Feb for the first open meeting of the year. Numbers were slightly down probably due to the forecast of strong winds and heavy rain. Though while we were rigging the boats the sun was shining which lifted our spirits because it was still a bitterly cold day and with a strong breeze and knowing the water was going to be extremely icy we were still keen to get on the water. Andy Turner must have had his porridge for breakfast because he launched early while the rest of us stayed ashore to have a briefing. The rest of us then tried to launch and with the wind increasing and an on shore breeze it took some time and with gusts now reaching 30 knots some people made a wise decision to stay ashore. By the time we had reached the start line Andy was on his way back to shore already suffering from frostbite. Special thanks must go to young Matt Bates who managed to launch get halfway to the start line before capsizing and turning turtle. This now left 6 boats to contest the first race; Nick got away cleanly and lead us up the first beat Richard was close behind as we headed down the reach to the gybe mark where the fun began. After Richard was Julian and Simon followed by Deryck and Ben. I do know Jules and Simon tipped it in on the gybe because I found myself in 3rd place as I was screaming down the 2nd reach nose diving at times. Nick was out in front but Richard was sailing a great race almost popping into the lead a couple of times but the battle was on for third with places changing all the time between Jules Deryck and Ben. Simon was in the battle but capsized again So on the line it was Nick with Richard a close second with Jules third just a few boat lengths in front of Deryck and Ben took a very creditable 5th place. After lunch with the wind still blowing a good force 4/5 gusting 6/7 Julian called it a day and went home (chicken). Just left 5 brave souls on the start line for race 2 after the first lap Simon called time on his day and headed for shore. Not a lot happened Nick won comfortably Richard was 2nd Deryck 3rd and Ben 4th. Race 3 got underway straight away which we were grateful for as by this time the rain had set in Ben started but retired straight away which just left 3 of us on the course. No need to mention that Nick won Richard capsized at the gybe mark again which gave Deryck the chance to race with him down the second reach which was short-lived as Richard pulled away up the beat to take 2nd in a shortened race. The hot showers were very welcome after a very cold but enjoyable day. Special thanks must go to King George sailing club for hosting our winter championships. West Oxford SC 31st Mar- 1st April wosc12 Name Number Club Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Total Pos. Adrian Hollier 2132 WOSC 5 1 1 2 (DNC) 9 1 Andrew Day 2102 WOSC 6 -7 5 1 1 13 2 Richard Burton 2042 WOSC 3 2 6 3 (DNC) 14 3 Oliver Burrows 1990 WOSC 8 11 9 4 2 23 4 Tony Woods 2147 Ethrow SC 1 4 4 DNF (DNC) 26 5 Ian Harris 2142 BCYC 2 5 2 DNC (DNC) 26 6 Neil Goodhead 2125 SSSC 4 3 3 DNC (DNC) 27 7 Andy Holmes 2127 SSSC -13 9 10 6 5 30 8 Chris Murray 2068 WOSC 10 12 7 5 (DNC) 34 9 Keith Byers 2084 Morecambe & Heysham YC 7 10 8 DNF (DNC) 42 10 Roland Gadsby 2088 Upper Thames SC 11 8 12 DNC (DNC) 48 11 Deryck Lovegrove 2130 Burghfield SC 9 6 OSC DNC (DNC) 49 12 Matthew Bates 2067 SSSC 15 16 13 (DNF) 6 51 13 Rhys Lankester 1917 BCYC 14 13 11 DNF (DNC) 52 14 Paul Deane 2087 BWSC (DNC) 15 DNF DNF 4 56 15 Sam Thomson 1886 SSSC 12 14 DNF DNC (DNC) 60 16 A total of 16 OK sailors turned up to the West Oxfordshire SC OK open. They were greeted with a gentle breeze coming across the lake, which made for some interesting shifts and close racing. In race 1 the line was heavily port end biased and the first start had to be recalled. The race got underway on the second time of asking with Richard Burton winning the pin but was held out to the left by Deryck Lovegrove and Tony Woods. Woods in his brand new Scolesbreaker (which was launched for the first time about 10 minutes earlier) got the windward mark first with Burton and Lovegrove hot on his heels. Woods held his lead through the race to win but making large gains during the race was Ian Harris who made his way from somewhere down the fleet to pass Burton for second. After and excellent lunch the fleet took to the water with a fading breeze. This time Adrian Hollier made his way to the front in his new boat 2132, with Lovegrove putting in a great first beat again rounding second and Burton 3rd. While Burton made it pass Lovegrove for 2nd Hollier pulled a fast one and disappeared in the light breeze. Woods and Neil Goodhead caught up with Burton to make a 3 way battle for 2nd. The breeze instantly decided to increase and as Woods and Burton got going Hollier went for a mid race dip but still maintained his lead by a small margin. After Woods got mixed up with his marks Goodhead and Burton got close to but not infront of Hollier who took the win Burton 2nd Goodhead 3rd and Woods 4th. Race 3 got underway with Hollier leading all the way round with good starts coming from Rhys Lankester rounding 2nd and Harris in 3rd. Harris passed Lankester with Goodhead also squeezing through to take 3rd and after some more place changes the top 3 held to finish Hollier, Harris and Goodhead. With some sailors heading home for the Sunday and some drinking till sometime in the morning everyone one seemed unremarkably unprepared for the prompt 10 o'clock start. With only 5 boats making the start line in the light winds. Andrew Day took the lead form Hollier and Chris Murray. Burton pulled through to 3rd and these positions held through to the end with Hollier challenging right at the end in the light winds while a few of the other boats being lapped on the last leg. Race 5 had a similar tone but with Burton and Hollier switching boats their results were not counted, along with Tom Lonsdale also jumping in his boat for the last race. Day took a convincing win from a keen Oliver Burrows and Paul Deane in 3rd. Hollier took the the overall win and Day 2nd after Burton failed to realise he only had to finish the last race to beat Day to 2nd. 1st junior was Burrows in a well deserved in 4th and 1st visitor was Woods in 5th. An excellently organised weekend all came into place (if I don't say so myself) for everyone to enjoy. I hope to see all next weekend at Bristol Corinthian for the 3rd event in the OK calendar. Waldringfield Easter Egg 7th-8th April egg12 SailNo Club HelmName R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total Nett 2138 WSC ROBERT DEAVES -3 1 1 1 1 1 8 5 2082 ROBERT BELLFIELD -6 3 4 2 2 3 20 14 2136 WSC JONATHAN FISH 2 2 3 3 5 (7.0 DNS) 22 15 1966 FFSC TIM OLEARY 4 -5 2 4 4 2 21 16 2036 WSC LUKE FARTHING 5 6 (7.0 DNF) 5 3 4 30 23 2120 WSC SIMON COX 1 4 (7.0 DNF) 6 7.0 DNF 7.0 DNS 32 25 inline_rt 45% ../gallery/egg12/egg126.jpg OK fleet at Waldringfield (photo: Juliet Dearlove) The Waldringfield Easter Egg was celebrating its 60th running this year and despite particularly inclement weather attracted 88 entries across eight fleets, including a small fleet of OK Dinghies. Though the racing was generally close and competitive, it turned into a matter of minimising mistakes which left Robert Deaves the clear winner with five race wins, mainly because he managed to stay in his boat and also sail the correct course each time. The first race on Saturday was sailed in the lightest winds of the weekend with a painful run against the tide behind the island. Jonathan Fish thought he had it all sown up taking a sizeable lead; however that was reduced on the next beat and at the shortened finish Simon Cox nailed the final shift to cross just ahead. Contrary to tradition, the next race was started promptly with Fish and Cox again out for an early lead. Keeping up a different tradition, Cox then capsized, while Deaves gained from a big shift on the final upwind to catch Fish and just get the overlap before the final fetch to the finish to take the gun. The final race of the day started with Cox capsizing on the start line to let Deaves and Fish away for a nice lead. Fish, along with half the fleet, then missed out a mark and by the time he had re-rounded Deaves had a five minute lead. This left Tim O'Leary in second with Fish recovering to third. inline_lt 45% /gallery/egg12/egg124.jpg Rob Bellfield (I think!) (photo: Juliet Dearlove) The wind had shifted for Sunday's three races, all back to back, with short beats across the flood tide and pretty much processional racing. Robert Bellfield led for much of the first race from Deaves, while Fish tangled a mooring rope and trailed in fourth. Cox went for the hat-trick on the next beat while Deaves wiggled past Bellfield on the tricky beat against the tide for a third race win. Fish led race four for a while, but Deaves got past downwind. He led round the leeward mark after an exciting gybing dual, only for Fish's toestraps to fail, leaving him breaking the surface to find his boat sailing away from him and his spectacles sinking to the muddy bottom. He finished the race in fifth but then called it a day. Cox also hung up his snorkels at this point. O'Leary led round the top mark in the final race with Deaves taking the lead downwind to extend for his fifth win. O'Leary held on for second place from Bellfield. Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club 14th April bcyc12 Rank Class SailNo HelmName Club R1 R2 R3 Total Nett 1st OK 2134 Nick Craig Frensham Pond -2 1 1 4 2 2nd OK 212 Tony Woods Glossop SC -9 3 2 14 5 3rd OK 2118 Terry Curtis Weymouth SC -3 2 3 8 5 4th OK 2042 Richard Burton West Oxfordshire SC 1 5 -7 13 6 5th OK 522 Ian Harris Bristol Corinthian YC 4 4 -6 14 8 6th OK 2141 Simon Davis Upper Thames SC 6 -8 4 18 10 7th OK 2125 Neil Goodhead South Staffordshire SC -13 7 5 25 12 8th OK 2130 Deryck Lovegrove Burghfield SC 7 6 -10 23 13 9th OK 2121 Anthony Rich West Oxfordshire SC 5 -13 9 27 14 10th OK 2085 Gavin Waldron South Staffordshire SC 8 -12 12 32 20 11th OK 2124 Daz Prior -11 9 11 31 20 12th OK 1917 Rhys Lankester Bristol Corinthian YC 10 11 -13 34 21 13th OK 2127 Andy Holmes SSSC -14 14 8 36 22 14th OK 2148 Chris Perry Glossop SC 12 10 (20.0 DNC) 42 22 15th OK 1886 Sam Thomson South Staffordshire SC -16 16 14 46 30 16th OK 2087 Adrian Holmes Baltic Wharf SC 15 15 (20.0 DNC) 50 30 17th OK 1644 Paul Dean Baltic Wharf SC (20.0 DNC) 17 20.0 DNC 57 37 18th OK 2101 Julian Burnham RYA 19.0 DNF 19.0 DNF (20.0 DNC) 58 38 The Bristol OK fleet was pleasantly surprised to find 18 OKs rigged and ready to go on Sat 14th April, boats had travelled from as far as Glossop and Hayling Island representing the class well in this joint Solo, Ok, Laser event. The wind was blowing from the North over the Mendip hills providing gusty challenging conditions, but the wind strength was sufficient for Race Officer Pete Vincent to set good triangle-sausage courses on the Lake, which seems to have faired better from the drought than most. In Race 1 Richard Burton headed off to the left side of the course on a big lift - Interestingly Rhys Lankester did the same out on the right, both arriving at the windward mark ahead of the more conservative pack in the middle of the course. Burton charged off down the reach never to be caught. Nick Craig worked his way through the fleet to take Second with Terry Curtis taking third. Craig lead Race 2 from the start in very shifty, patchy conditions. Several people challenged through the snakes & ladders with Curtis coming out clear in second as the wind died off & then filled in down the run, relegating Burton back to fifth. Tony wood managed to scrabble into 3rd from Ian Harris in Fourth. A big shift before the start of the final race created a one tack first beat. Woods and Craig were able to tack first and managed to round clear in that order - slowly increasing their lead in what became a bit of a procession. Curtis managed to work his way clear into third place with Simon Davis from Upper Thames 4th leaving Craig the clear winner and Woods second on count back. Northern Champs, Morecambe and Heysham YC 21st & 22nd April north12 place helm R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 points 1 Keith Byers 1 3 (5) 2 1 7 2 Tony Woods 3 (8) 1 1 2 7 3 Richard Burton 2 2 2 3 (6) 9 4 Ed Bradburn (10) 1 3 4 4 12 5 Simon Hoult 5 7 (dns) 5 3 20 6 Gavin Waldron 8 4 4 (9) 7 23 7 Simon Davis 6 (dsq) 7 5 5 23 8 Chris Perry 4 6 (dns) 7 9 26 9 Dave Bourne (11) 5 6 10 8 29 10 Brian Quayle 7 (11) 8 11 10 36 11 Andy Holmes 9 10 (dns) 8 11 38 12 Paul Pike (12) 9 9 12 12 42 12 sailors were met with fantastic winds and excellent sunshine at Morecambe bay for the first of the 2012 world qualifying series. Race 1 off the line with the best start of all was Dave Bourne. However local knowledge obviously paid off as Keith Byers (having told all the other sailors not to!) sailed up to a big green marker near the shore tacked and was first into the mark by some distance. He was eventually followed by simon Hoult and Richard Burton (Simon Davis should have been there as well but decided to brush up on his breaststroke). Burton made an instant gain on the first reach to pass Hoult with Byers in the distance. Keith crossed the line first Burton a short way behind and making a last charge in 3rd was Tony Woods. 1st Keith Byers, 2nd R Burton, 3rd Tony Woods, Race 2 in race 2 it was again hit the left side of the beat which Ed Bradburn managed nicely with Keith hot on his heels and Burton just behind. Burton proceeded to tailgate byers for 2nd passing him on one of the many runs. Bradburn held his lead with Burton pulling through to 2nd and Byers 3rd 1st Ed Bradburn, 2nd Richard Burton, 3rd Keith Byers Race 3 this time it was Woods turn to lead the fleet round the top mark with Burton just behind. Bradburn was not far behind him and these places held round the course with some close racing going on with Bradburn pushing for second. 1st Tony Wood, 2nd R Burton, 3rd Ed Bradburn. after an excellent curry and quiz day 2 got under way (when the water arrived of course). Race 4 since the top 4 sailors could all still win the open there was some close racing all the way round. after sailing up the left bank it was obvious everyone had to sail beyond the lay line as the tide was so strong at the top mark. Byers rounded first with Davis tucked just behind and Woods charging in front of Burton for 3rd place. up the next beat Davis made the fatal mistake of tacking to early allowing Woods and Burton past. Woods proceeded to nip at the heels of Byers until he managed to gain an overlap and pass. on the penultimate beat Woods was covering Byers with Burton making a huge gain against Byers leaving a long port tack drag race into the finish. Woods was watching with interest from the front while the pair battled it out for 2nd Byers squeezed round for second by a matter of inches leaving Burton 3rd. 1st Tony Woods, 2nd Keith Byers, 3rd Richard Burton Race 5 with 4 sailors still able to take the event (some had to do more then others) Woods came off the line nicely and led the fleet right, but Hoult and Byers flew in from the left to take the top 2 spots with Davis now in 3rd and Woods 4th. Throughout the race close racing was had by all leaving woods challenging for the lead from Byers the winner taking all. Byers clung onto his lead with Woods tucking in for 2nd and Hoult holding off Bradburn for 3rd. 1st Keith Byers, 2nd Tony Woods, 3rd Simon Hoult, 4th Ed Bradburn Spring Cup, RYC Hollandia, Mebemblik 4-6th May spring12 place Sailno Name Score R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 1 GBR2134 Nick Craig 9 1 -3 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 NZL544 Greg Wilcox 14 2 1 -6 3 2 3 1 2 3 POL19 Bartosz Rakocy 33 9 4 -16 4 3 2 8 3 4 GBR2118 Terry Curtis 36 6 -18 5 6 6 6 3 4 5 GER693 Martin v Zimmerman 54 -12 10 12 2 5 10 6 6 6 GER773 Rudiger Prinz 60 3 11 1 14 16 (dns) 9 6 7 DEN8 Stefan Myralf 61 4 5 20 5 11 4 12 (dns) 8 POL1 Tomasz Gaj 61 15 6 -19 9 8 8 5 10 9 DEN1364 Jorgen Lindhardtsen 68 (dns) 2 3 dnf 4 5 7 5 10 GBR2042 Richard Burton 74 7 14 10 10 7 (dns) 10 16 11 GBR2147 Alex Scoles 82 -21 7 8 8 9 19 17 14 12 DEN1335 Mogan Johansen 88 13 13 17 13 10 9 -21 13 13 GER750 Ralf Tietje 90 16 15 -24 7 13 13 19 7 14 DEN1398 Christian Hedlund 104 5 8 18 (dnf) 12 15 4 ocs 15 SWE99 Hans Elkjaer 111 18 19 -25 19 17 12 14 12 16 GBR2136 Jonathan Fish 117 27 12 4 11 14 7 (dns) dns 17 GBR2101 Julian Burnham 121 10 21 -23 15 19 17 18 21 18 GER715 Sven Beye 133 17 27 7 -28 25 24 15 18 19 GER760 Andreas Deubel 135 26 26 14 20 (dnf) 14 13 22 20 GBR2141 Simon Davis 138 8 25 15 24 24 (dns) 25 17 21 GBR2096 James Case 143 24 23 -35 12 26 23 20 15 22 GBR2145 Tony Woods 145 11 9 13 17 (dnf) ocs 11 dnf 23 GBR1774 Tom Lonsdale 146 22 -33 9 26 21 22 23 23 24 GER737 Thorsten Schmidt 147 -28 28 26 22 20 16 16 19 25 DEN1265 Malte Pedersen 154 (dns) 30 33 18 23 20 22 8 26 POL4 Drozdzik Radoslaw 160 14 16 21 27 22 18 (dns) dns 27 GER680 Jan Dietman Dellas 162 25 41 (dns) 21 29 11 24 24 28 GBR2130 Deryck Lovegrove 188 -33 29 32 30 30 21 26 20 29 GBR2120 Daniel Ager 202 (dns) 34 11 16 15 ocs dns dns 30 BEL220 Ronny Poelman 205 30 22 28 23 18 (dns) dnc dns 31 GER651 Heinz Ridder 212 36 -38 34 33 33 25 27 24 32 POL7 Marek Bernat 216 20 20 36 29 27 (dns) dns dns 33 BEL214 Paul Verrijdt 228 19 32 27 32 34 (dns) dnc dns 34 GBR2148 Chris Perry 230 23 17 22 (dnf) dns dns dns dns 35 GBR2129 Alan Atkin 231 29 37 29 36 31 27 (dns) dns 36 NED500 Stephan Veldman 238 32 39 37 25 35 28 (dns) dns 37 USA1010 Bradford Johanson 239 35 36 30 34 36 26 (dnc) dns 38 NED555 Jan Siebe de Vries 240 31 31 31 35 (dns) dns (dns) dns 39 GBR2149 Martin Bower 262 (dns) 24 dns dns 28 dns dns dns 40 GER724 Marina Dellas 263 34 40 (dns) 31 32 dns dns dns 41 NED638 Robert Bancken 273 37 35 38 37 (dnf) dns dnc dns 41 OK sailors from 9 countries including 13 Brits made the hop across the pond to Medemblik in Holland. After a quick warm sail and a quick warm up drinking session on the Thursday night a few sailors looked a little worse for wear shortly before racing on Friday. With an offshore breeze and a short chop Nick Craig made the most of the conditions to take the gun from a hard pushing Greg Wilcox. Rudi Prinz also making a great start to the weekend finishing 3rd. Between the Brits Terry Curtis placed 6th nipping across the line in front of Richard burton in 7th after making a last charge in the gentle breeze moving past Simon Davis. With the breeze building into the next race Wilcox took off the line and held his lead the whole race with Jorgen Lindhardtsen taking 2nd and Craig 3rd. Between the Brits Alex Scoles showed of his fantastic looking new ship to take 7th and second Brit with Tony Woods taking 9th. In the 3rd and final race of the day the wind went light and Prinz sailed up the first into the lead and no one saw him again. Craig pulled through to second but couldn't make any dent in the Germans lead. Lindhardtsen was again a consistent 3rd. Curtis pulled through to 5th and 2nd Brit with Scoles in 8th. Mention must go to Sven Beye and Tom Lonsdale both finishing in the top 10 (7th and 9th respectively) so all 3 of the youngest sailors punching through to the top 10 showing great signs for the fleet. I have to admit the smug feeling I had as I looked around to check were the rest of the fleet were and saw about 20 boats all rounding the leeward mark at the same time. I laughed and then carried on. After a few gentle beers on the Friday night Saturday started early and breezy. With a bit of sun and on shore breeze there were bigger waves and it was tough racing. Craig put in a very typical performance in the breeze taking 3 bullets. In race 4 Martin von Zimmerman put in a sterling performance to finish 2nd with Wilcox 3rd. Curtis placed 6th and second Brit and Scoles was making the most of his new boat came in 8th. In race 5 Craig took the gun with Wilcox chasing and Bartosz Rakocy in 3rd. Curtis was again 2nd Brit with Burton placing higher in the building breeze finishing 7th. The fleet merged with the solos to cause some strife going up the last beat. In race 6 Craig again took off in the strongest breeze there was all weekend. Rakocy took a well deserved 2nd with Wilcox placing 3rd. Curtis again placed 6th and 2nd Brit and Jonathon Fish showed some form coming in 7th and 3rd Brit. As usual a fantastic meal and Saturday night entertainment was put on with a few beers and a late night a few sailors took their time to get up and get on the water. With champagne sailing conditions Fish took the lead at the first mark with Curtis and Burton close behind Craig pushed through with Wilcox picking the shifts out and taking the lead on the next beat. Wilcox finished 1st with Craig pushing all the way for 2nd. Curtis reminded us how quickly he can go and finished 3rd. Burton clung onto 10th and 3rd Brit. In the final race Christian Hedlund took the lead Curtis Pulled through to lead the race on the final beat but covered Rakocy in order to try and secure 3rd overall. However after a left shift came through Hedlund crossed in first with Craig 2nd and Wilcox 3rd. But it turned out Hedlund was OCS so Craig won with Wilcox 2nd and Rakocy 3rd beating Curtis who finished 4th and 2nd Brit with Scoles placing 14th and 3rd Brit. So Craig to the event overall ahead of Wilcox and both were very comfortably ahead of the rest of the fleet with Rakocy 3rd and Curtis 4th. Burton placed 3rd Brit overall in 10th with Scoles not far behind in 11th overall and 4th Brit. I hope to see everyone in Denmark for the 50th OK Worlds with 118 boats already signed up it is setting up to be a great Event. Brixham Y.C. 19th & 20th May brix12 Series Place Sail No Boat Owner Series Points Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 1 2118 Contraband T. Curtis 5 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2145 T. Woods 12 2 2 3 5 3 2 3 2084 The Fugitive K. Byers 17 3 4 4 2 6 4 4 2141 S. Davis 18 4 3 5 4 4 3 5 12118 J. Burnham 19 5 7 2 3 2 11 6 2149 Riva M. Bower 32 11 8 8 6 5 5 7 2148 C. Perry 36 8 6 7 7 8 11 8 2107 D. Bourne 38 7 10 6 8 7 11 9 2146 Poka Yoke S. Hoult 39 6 5 9 10 9 11 10 2130 Midnight Express D. Lovegrove 43 9 9 11 9 10 6 Firstly apologies for the delay in producing this report. Saturday's forecast of about 8 to 10 knots of wind was spot on. Race 1: started with a southerly breeze. The fleet beat back across Torbay in a shifty wind and lumpy sea. The course was very large but despite this the fleet all arrived at the first mark in a tight bunch. Simon Hoult, showing great upwind speed rounded first, closely followed by Terry Curtis. On the long broad reaches Terry squeezed every ounce out of the wind and took the lead with the chasing pack frequently changing places - final result 1st Terry Curtis, 2nd Tony Wood, 3rd Keith Byers. Race 2: very similar start to Race 1 with shifting wind, patchy pressure and a lumpy sea. Terry pulled out into a clear lead. Strong competition on the final leg, from the bottom mark to the downwind finish, resulted in 4 boats all finishing within 2 boat lengths. Tony Wood, desperately attempting to get down to the finish with the others climbing all over him, finished in 2nd place with Keith 3rd closely followed by Simon Davis and Julian Burnham. Race 3: similar conditions once again, Terry didn't have this one all his own way as Julian broke out into the lead with Tony and Terry close behind. Very close racing ensued with Julian hanging in until the last reach when Terry overtook him. Sunday's forecast for more wind didn't materialise and the conditions were similar to Saturday but with the wind from the NE. Race 4: after the start the fleet beat out to sea, only Keith sailed inshore arriving at the windward mark first. Staying ahead until the last half of the finishing run when Terry slid by to win by 4 boat lengths with Julian in 3rd place. Race 5: a pattern of results was emerging with a few helms who seemed to have their boats dialled into the conditions. Julian and Tony battled constantly for 2nd place with the rest of the fleet close behind and Terry once again taking 1st place. Race 6: with first place in the event already secure Mr Curtis decided to go for the grand slam. Competition remained fierce for the remaining places. Luckily for some, Julian hadn't put enough money in the parking metre and returned to shore rather than risk a fine! Racing continued to be tight with Dave Bourne getting in on the act only to find he was OCS! Simon Davis moving through into 3rd behind Terry and Tony at the finish. A great weekend sailing and certainly wetted the appetite for superb nationals in 2013. Dabchicks SC 2nd & 3rd June dab12 Sail No Helm Club Points Place R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 21 Jon Fish Waldringfield 4 1 2 1 1 1 1 2147 Alex Scoles Overy Staithe 8 2 1 3 2 5 2 2136 Lee Child DSC 12 3 3 4 5 2 3 2145 Tony Woods Glossop 13.5 4 5 2 3 3.5 13 2120 Dan Ager Waldsringfield 16.5 5 4 5 4 3.5 13 2100 Toby Ramsay DSC 22 6 6 6 6 8 4 144 Paul Church Harlow Bwater 27 7 8 8 13 6 5 2088 Roland Gadsby UTSC 30 8 9 7 8 9 6 2_00 Trev Child DSC 34 9 7 13 13 7 7 2032 Tim Hurst DSC 40 10 13 9 7 11 13 20 Gavin Page DSC 46 11 11 10 13 13 10 1748 Mark Early Havering SC 52 12 13 13 13 13 13 12 OKs decided it was more fun going sailing than watching her majesty float around on the thames in the rain. Admittedly she had a couple more boats but the Dabchicks ok open had the larger tv audience. Day one was about 16 knots with a good easterly swell and beating with the tide made for short beats on the triangle sausage courses. In race one it was tight between the top five of Alex Scoles, Jon Fish, Dan Ager, Tony Woods and Lee Child for most of the race but Alex Scoles went like a rocket downwind was too difficult to keep up with and took the bullet. Race 2 started with Roland Gadsby in 2088 crossing the fleet on port. Tony Woods had a good race and finished in 2nd but Fish upwind was flying and won. A few boats suffered damage and went in for repairs. Race 3 saw Fish and Scoles take quite a lead over the pack but the fish took the win with Alex hunting him downwind, a pattern that the fleet became used to. Sunday was wet and windy, 18-20 knots with bigger puffs coming through and felt like November, not june! Over powered upwind and constant planing downwind saw some brilliant surfing conditions. In race 4 a really good battle between fish, ager and lee ensued and at the last windward mark ager would have rounded first but got it wrong and had to bail out and gybe as couldn't quite lay it with fish just to windward of him so he couldn't tack, this left the way for Jon and Lee to sail off and take the first two places. Dan and Tony couldn't be separated and took joint third both planing into the finish! Fish had the regatta sown up but the rest of the fleet were still fighting it out in the last race. Ager was premature along with Gavin Page in the last race and neither returned which hit them overall. Fish first, Scoles second and lee third was how the race and the regatta ended as race 6 got abandoned. Toby Ramsey came in 4th with an aluminium mast was close to the first 3. An excellent regatta, thanks to Peter Fitt and the race team for making it well run and special thanks also to the rescue boat team who had a very wet weekend in the ribs. Overy Staithe SC 9th & 10th June os12 Helm sail_no Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Total pts Posn Jon Fish 2151 1 1 7 2 4 1 Alex Scoles 2147 4 2 1 4 7 2 Pete Turner 2059 DNF 5 4 1 10 3 Dan Ager 2120 6 4 2 5 11 4 James Case 2096 3 3 6 9 12 5 Neil Goodhead 2025 8 DNF 3 3 14 6 Andy Turner 2123 7 6 5 6 17 7 Simon Cox 2122 2 7 DNS DNS 21 8 Dave Cooper 2031 5 8 9 8 21 9 Simon Shaw 2137 DNF DNS 8 7 27 10 Teddy Arrowsmith 2012 DNF DNS 10 10 32 11 inline_rt 45% ../gallery/1os12/1os121.jpg Race Two first beat With "near hurricane" strength winds battering the south of England, the Overy Staithe open meeting promised to be an exciting one. Eleven competitors made the journey to the north Norfolk coast. Race officer Jerry Clarke made the decision to hold the racing inside the harbour. Conditions were best described as fairly hairy, this was exemplified by the number of sailors swimming before the start of the race. Pete Turner and Alex Scoles sailed each other over the start line, leaving the rest of the fleet to get away cleanly. The fleet made their way up the first beat , most managing to overstand the mark and reaching down at speed. Mark two proved to be the most exciting, with Alex Scoles submarining and Simon Shaw failing to persuade his boat to bear away, ending up with a shredded sail on the marsh. The action continued as Pete Turner, Dave Cooper and Teddy Arrowsmith's masts all hit the water in style. Amongst the carnage, Jon Fish sailed serenely over the finish line to take first place. Simon Cox was 2nd with James Case 3rd. inline_lt 45% ../gallery/1os12/1os1212.jpg Neil Goodhead getting his leg over For race 2 the course was changed to a starboard hand triangle, introducing a proper beat to the course. Simon and Teddy spectated from the marsh. This time the fleet got away without incident with Jon Fish (utilising his 110kg to great effect) reaching the top mark first, closely followed by James Case and Alex Scoles. Jon Fish continued to lead the fleet round to take his second win of the day. Locals Alex Scoles and James Case were 2nd and 3rd respectively. Day 2 brought a complete change in conditions with a light force one coming in from the north west. This time the racing was outside the harbour in the sea. This added a 2knot tide to take into account of on the course. The majority of the fleet shot off inshore, but against all received local wisdom those that carried on to the starboard side of course and up the middle came out ontop. Alex Scoles lead the fleet round to take first place. Andy Turner ruffled a few feathers by cunningly completing a sausage while the rest of the fleet dutifully followed Alex round another triangle. After a quick review of the sailing instructions it turned out that Andy (who wrote them) had the last laugh. Dan was second, Neil was third and Pete was fourth. The final race went underway as glorious sunshine came and the wind veered as a gentle sea breeze filled in. With a few adjustments to the course, the fleet crowded towards the pin end and Andy Turner (having abruptly told Teddy "where to go") made the best start. The leaders of the pack after the first beat were Pete, Fish and Neil. The sausage leg was a battle against the tide with boats coming down the leg pointing 45 degrees away from the leeward mark. Teddy Arrowsmith still managed to hit it. Fish challenged Pete for the lead once more, having been lifted in to the top mark. But Pete took the advantage at the final mark, gybing and nipping past Fish on the final leg. The final scores were a tribute to Jon Fish's consistently good sailing, posting two 1sts and a 2nd in polar opposite weather conditions. Report written by Debs Turner; approved (and financed) by Pete Turner. Upper Thames SC 16th & 17th June ut12 Name Sail Club Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Pts. Position No. Julian Burnham 2101 RYA 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 1st Roland Gadsby 2088 UTSC 2 2 2 2 2 2 12 2nd Edward Crichton 2007 UTSC 3 3 DNS 6 5 4 29 3rd Richard Pausey 2105 UTSC DNS DNS DNS 4 3 3 34 4th Roger Cooper 2074 UTSC DNS DNS DNS 7 6 5 42 5th Jeremy Stein 1962 UTSC DNS DNS DNS 11 4 6 45 6th Martin Elliott 1894 UTSC 5 DNS DNS 9 7 DNS 50 7th Derek Berry 2097 UTSC 4 DNS DNS 5 DNF DNS 51 8th John Thompson 1960 UTSC DNS DNS DNS 3 DNF DNS 51 9th Kim Breckenridge 2091 UTSC DNF DNS DNS 8 DNS DNF 56 10th Chris Ridley 2013 UTSC DNS DNS DNS 10 DNS DNS 58 11th Roya Poole 1695 UTSC DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 60 12th inline_lt 45% ../gallery/ut12/ut121.jpg Oks at Upper Thames SC The advance weather forecast for this weekend promised heavy showers and the worst winds since the 'Michael Fish' strong winds episode in the late 80's. Add in a very heavy stream on the River Thames a description of 'difficult sailing conditions' would be an understatement. In westerly winds gusting 25 - 35 mph on the Saturday there was no surprise of a reduced field, but congratulations to the seven OK sailors who took to the water. Not surprising capsizes and retirements on this first day were plenty, and the final race of the day was cancelled as the wind had strengthened considerably. The first three races were won by Julian Burnham, RYA, in 'Another Brick', being challenged all the way by Roland Gadsby, UTSC, in 'Windfall' and Edward Crichton, UTSC, in 'Tantalus'. An excellent evening was enjoyed with the Firefly fleet, who were also holding their Annual UTSC Open Meeting - Good fun, good company, and plenty to eat and drink. inline_rt 45% ../gallery/ut12/ut122.jpg Oks at Upper Thames SC Come Sunday and come dry sunny periods, reduced winds, but the river stream was still very strong. A fleet of twelve OK's took to the water with Race Officer Nigel Garland setting a challenging sausage course half a mile upstream of the clubhouse. Sunday morning walkers along the River Thames pathway were treated to some very close racing, which also included twelve racing Firefly's on the same course. Other challenges were posed by other river users; motorised boats, canoeist, rowers, and a handful of course fishermen. By the afternoon the wind had decreased considerably and a course was set outside the clubhouse for the final race and the benefit of spectators who were enjoying an early summer cream tea, including the photographer. By this time a number of the fleet had exhausted their reserves, and final race (6) consisted of seven OK's. Race results for this second day remained consistent and very similar to Saturday's. Overall Julian Burnham walked away with both trophies (Windfall and Yateman Cups) with a very impressive 1st position, with Roland Gadsby and Edward Crichton snapping at his heals 2nd and 3rd respectively. Congratulations to all for an excellent weekend, and battling against the wind, which will be remembered for a long time. Especial thanks to Nigel Garland and his box and safety teams. Snettisham Beach SC 30th June & 1st July snet12 Rank Sail no. helm Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 total nett 1st 2118 Terry Curtis Weymouth 1 1 1 3 3 9 6 2nd 2147 Alex Scoles Overy Staithe 2 5 2 4 2 15 10 3rd 2107 Dave Bourne Upriver 6 4 3 2 4 19 13 4th 2123 Andy Turner Overy Staithe 5 3 5 1 dnf 19 14 5th 2120 Dan Ager Waldringfield 3 2 4 dnc dnc 21 20 6th 2136 Simon Cox Waldringfield 4 6 6 dnc dnc 38 27 7th 2152 Jon Fish Waldringfield dnc dnc dnc 5 1 39 28 8th 2104 Paul Pike Covenham 7 7 7 dnc dnc 43 32 9th 2084 Keith Byers Morecambe dnf dnc dnc dnf dnc 48 37 10th 2012 Teddy Arrowsmith Brancaster Staithe dnc dnc dnc 6 dnc 50 39 Nine competitors arrived at Snettisham to be greeted by strong south westerly winds and a surprising lack of water! With a first race start time of 14:30, it was clear that there wouldn't be a great deal of water under the gybe mark that was handily pre-set right in front of the club for maximum entertainment! Port hand, triangle, sausage, triangle courses were the order of the day and Race 1 got underway in 30knts + of breeze and wind against tide. Race 1 Terry Curtis continued where he'd left off at Brixham by leading the fleet round the first mark with Alex, Dan, Keith and Simon in hot pursuit. The reach down to the gybe mark was exhilarating to say the least with big waves and even bigger gusts to contend with not to mention the impending gybe! The lead bunch all made it round ok with some of the others choosing to tack round rather than risk a swim. Keith then managed to lose his mast collar somewhere inside his foredeck and wisely retired amid fears of holed boats! With a pretty one side beat, any place changes were mainly down to boat handling errors and so Terry took the bullet with Alex in second and Dan in third. Race 2 The fleet got away straight after Race 1 in exactly the same conditions. Terry again led the way with Dan, Simon and Dave following down to the gybe mark. This time Dave fell foul of the gybe mark allowing Andy through and then Simon managed to turn turtle half way down the second reach which pushed Andy up into third. Terry got to the leeward mark to find himself receiving a finishing gun after only one lap, so Dan finished in second with Andy third. Maybe the Race Officer thought we'd had enough, but OK sailors are made of sterner stuff so out we stayed for Race 3! Race 3 With the tide just on the turn, the fleet were pretty spread out this time. Terry again led the way with Dave, Alex and Dan on his tail. Alex managed to pull past Dave down the reach to round the leeward mark in second with Dan still in fourth. Terry pulled away to score a convincing 3 wins from 3 while Alex held on to second, Dave coming in third and Dan fourth. With some very tired and aching Ok sailors, Sunday promised to be a test of endurance, as much as of boat handling. Sunday dawned with at least one hangover from Saturday nights food and drink fest at The Hero in Burnham. With racing not planned till 3:30, it was a long, leisurely morning at Mr Turner's before thoughts turned to the pain to come! At the club, the wind had dropped a few knots and the fleet had been swelled by Jon Fish in his new Synergy boat and Teddy Arrowsmith. Race 4 Jon Fish led the fleet round the first mark followed by Terry, Andy, Dave and Keith and screamed down to the gybe mark. Everyone made it round ok but then Jon decided to take a look at his new bottom and swim around for a while, then Terry decided to follow suit while looking for his rudder! Andy and Dave went past with Alex in hot pursuit down to the leeward mark as Keith's mast collar decided to disappear inside his foredeck again! Andy and Dave were making ground up the beats while Alex was closing rapidly down the reaches. Andy won, with Dave narrowly scraping in second, ahead of Alex. Credit should go to Teddy for coming in sixth, while massive discredit should go to Dan and Simon for being big girls!!! Race 5 Jon Fish again lead at the first windward mark followed by Andy, Alex, Dave and Terry. Andy dropped out half way up the second beat after a big shift to the right so it was left to the remaining four to battle it out to the finish. Jon held on to the lead as the breeze dropped a little and Terry passed Dave on the penultimate run to set up a tight reach battle with Alex who just managed to hold off Terry to the line. Jon won, with Terry second, Alex third and Dave in fourth. Weymouth Regatta 14th & 15th July wey12 Sail No Name Type Helm Club Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Points Place 2118 Contraband OK Terry Curtis Weymouth/Upper Thames -1 1 1 1 1 1 5 1 2042 OK Richard Burton West Oxfordshire SC 2.5 -8 3 2 2 2 11.5 2 2101 Another Brick OK Julian Burnham RYA 2.5 4 4 3 3 (11/DNC) 16.5 3 2125 Red Dwarf OK Neil Goodhead South Staffs SC 4 2 2 4 6 (11/DNC) 18 4 2129 Boing Boing OK Alan Atkin Burghfield SC -9 3 6 5 7 4 25 5 2088 Boat name OK Mr Gadsby WSC 7 6 5 -8 8 3 29 6 2027 Yellow Wellie OK Nick Frampton Weymouth Sc 6 7 8 6 5 (11/DNC) 32 7 2130 Midnight Express OK Deryck Lovegrove Burghfield SC 8 -9 9 7 4 5 33 8 2127 Fools Gold OK Andy Holmes South Staffs SC 5 5 7 9 (11/DNC) 11/DNC 37 9 1915 No Faff OK Chris Palucsis Weymouth SC (11/DNS) 11/DNS 11/DNS 10 11/DNC 11/DNC 54 10 The 10 OK sailors who entered the Weymouth Clubs Regatta were treated to an excellent weekend of very well organised sailing in great conditions. The bay was busy with a large number of boats sailing on two courses but apart from one Osprey trying to run down Richard Burton (who can blame him?) the race teams did a good job of keeping us apart. Race 1 Terry Curtis set the tone for the weekend and led the race from start to finish. Richard did however show his usual upwind speed to keep the pressure on Terry whilst Julian Burnham spent his time letting Richard through up the beat only to overtake him on the downwind legs. Terry finished a very comfortable 1st followed by Julian and Richard getting 2.5 points each as the committee boat could not split them on the line. Neil Goodhead followed closely in 4th with Andy Holmes taking 5th. Race 2 started with decent pressure and much laughter. Richard had obviously decided that we all needed cheering up as the sun had gone in and proceeded to capsize just 30 seconds after the start. Terry narrowly avoided chopping the top off Richard's mast as it hit the water just in front of him and the rest of the fleet sailed on crying with laughter. Richard was not to recover too well from this mishap and finished 8th. By the top of the first beat the wind had dropped off and begun shifting. This didn't seem to unsettle Terry but the rest of the field shifted places somewhat. Alan Atkin showed great speed and proved that it is not only Neil who can turn it on when the going gets shite, sorry, I meant light. Neil, Alan and Julian traded places throughout the race and finished behind Terry in that order. Race 3 remained light with Neil following Terry around the course and the rest of us following Neil. Richard had dried off from his earlier swim and and took 3rd whilst Julian finished 4th. By Alan's own admission he had run out of steam by the last race of the day and came in 6th behind Roland who had been chasing the pack in front to finish 5th. Sunday morning dawned grey and pretty windless but by the time of the first start the sun was breaking through and the wind had picked up. Terry won every race again so I won't bother mentioning him again. Race 4 started and with the increased wind Richard took 2nd whilst Julian finished in 3rd ahead of Neil and Alan. Andy took a swim just boat lengths from the finish line letting more than one boat through and, clearly a bit chilly, decided to call it day. Race 5 saw a different leader at the top mark. Deryck had obviously seen something that the rest of the fleet missed and headed hard right up the first beat. Although he looked mighty lonely over there for a while his move paid off and he led around the top mark with space behind him. He held his position towards the front of the fleet and finished in 4th behind Richard and Julian. Nick Frampton was clearly enjoying the stronger winds and put in his best result of the weekend finishing in 5th. The last race of the weekend was notable by a number of the fleet seeming keen to get home. Three boats had headed home before the start and the author of this report was clearly thinking of being somewhere else and was a bit keen at the start. By the time I had returned to the start and properly started the race the fleet were half up the beat and were not to be caught. As a consequence I have no idea what happened except that Richard beat Terry to the windward mark but could not hold on to 1st and finished in 2nd ahead of Roland who got his best result of the weekend with a 3rd. Final results were Terry 1st, Richard 2nd and Julian 3rd Weymouth Sailing Club made us feel very welcome and, in conjunction with the other Weymouth clubs, put on a great weekend. The only negative of the two days was Neil bringing a passenger with him from the Midlands. Alas it wasn't a member of his lovely family but Mike Edwards. Quite what Neil was thinking I will never know. Mike spent Saturday eating and drinking his way around Weymouth whilst the rest of us went sailing and then after some of the local beer and a curry certainly made his presence smelt! Mike, I would like to be able to take this opportunity to say it was good to see you and we have missed you. We haven't, so I can't. National Championships (Brightlingsea SC) 24th - 27th August nats12 Rank SailNo Club HelmName R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Total Nett Notes 1st 212 Dabchicks SC Lee Child 2 3 -7 2 2 1 1 5 23 16 2nd 2118 Weymouth SC / Upper Thames SC Terry Curtis 3 2 3 1 1 7 4 (32.0 OCS) 53 21 3rd 2151 Waldringfield SC Jonathan Fish 1 1 1 -17 4 13 2 1 40 23 4th 2138 Waldringfield SC Robert Deaves 5 6 4 3 -8 3 3 2 34 26 5th 2145 Glossop SC Tony Woods 4 5 13 9 5 2 10 (32.0 OCS) 80 48 V 6th 2084 Morecambe and Heysham YC Keith Byers 7 15 5 11 10 4 -18 4 74 56 V 7th 2147 Overy Staithe SC Alex Scoles 15 4 9 (32.0 DNF) 11 10 5 3 89 57 8th 522 BCYC Ian Harris 11 9 6 4 9 5 14 (32.0 DNC) 90 58 9th 2116 South Staffs Ed Bradbun (15.0 TLY) 14 10 5 7 9 6 8 74 59 10th 2101 RYA John Burnham 9 10 -14 8 3 11 9 10 74 60 11th 2042 WOSC Richard Burton 13.0 TLY 11 2 10 -18 16 7 6 83 65 12th 2107 Upriver YC Dave Bourne 6 8 15 6 6 -17 12 12 82 65 13th 2120 Waldringfield SC Dan Ager (32.0 OCS) 7 8 13 16 8 11 7 102 70 14th 2123 Overy Staithe SC Andy Turner 13 12 17 12 -22 12 15 9 112 90 V 15th 144 Waldringfield SC Simon Cox 14 13 19 (32.0 DNF) 19 6 13 14 130 98 16th 2121 West Oxfordshire SC Anthony Rich 16 16 11 7 17 20 -21 11 119 98 17th 2100 Dabchicks SC Toby Ramsay 19 -20 12 15 13 19 8 13 119 99 18th 2027 Weymouth SC Nick Frampton 17 18 (32.0 DNF) 16 14 23 17 32.0 OCS 169 137 19th 2137 Deben YC Simon Shaw 20 19 (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 20 21 16 32.0 DNC 192 160 20th 2135 South Staffs SC William Bradburn 21 21 (32.0 DNF) 32.0 DNC 21 15 19 32.0 DNC 193 161 V M 21st 2149 Blithfield SC Martin Bower (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 16 14 15 22 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 195 163 22nd 2104 Covenham SC Paul Pike 26 24 (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 26 24 20 15 199 167 M 23rd 2125 South Staffs SC Neil Goodhead 18 17 18 18 (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 199 167 24th 2148 Etherow CPSC Chris Perry 12 (32.0 DNF) 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 12 18 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 202 170 V 25th 2129 Burghfield SC Alan Atkin 22 23 (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 23 14 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 210 178 M 26th 2032 DSC/WMYC Tim Hurst 23 (32.0 DNF) 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 27 27 22 32.0 DNF 227 195 27th 217 South Staffs Adrian Walker 25 25 (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 25 25 32.0 DNF 32.0 DNC 228 196 J 28th 2108 South Staffs Sam Thomson 27 (32.0 DNF) 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 24 26 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 237 205 C 29th 2144 Bristol Crinthian YC Rhys Lankester 24 22 (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 238 206 V 30th 2067 South Staffs Matthew Bates 29 26 (32.0 DNC) 32.0 DNC 28 28 32.0 DNF 32.0 DNC 239 207 C 31st 2092 South Staffs Sam Blocksidge 28 (32.0 DNF) 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 32.0 DNC 252 220 J inline_rt 50% ../gallery/nats12/nats121.jpg Event winner Lee Child leads the OK fleet, Nationals 2012 at Brightlingsea S.C. Photo: Brightlingsea S.C. A very competitive fleet of 31 OK Dinghies travelled to Brightlingsea for a great event over the bank holiday weekend. Sailed in a good breeze and hosted by a very hospitable club, the event will be remembered for some time - not least because it was won after a nip-tuck struggle between a few boats with the eventual outcome only being known after the fleet was ashore on the final day. Proceedings started in a solid force 3-4, with Lee Child in his shiny new Synergy boat taking an early lead. Jon Fish came through to second by the leeward mark and with the pair clear of the fleet, a 1hr 20min match race commenced. Fish came through down the run, but Child managed to claw back up the last beat, and looked like he was going to take the race, but Fish just nicked it on the finish line. Fish led race 2 from start to finish, albeit pushed by defending champion Terry Curtis, who performed downhill recovery acts in both races to end the day with a 3, 2. Child put in another counter with a third almost catching Curtis after a 40 degree shift shuffled the pack up the last beat. Alex Scoles showed better form to take fourth, while Tony Woods had a solid day to sit in fourth overall as the fleet headed in after two great races. Saturday morning started breezier, with 18-20 knots initially recorded on the race track. Richard Burton showed some of his windy weather pace to hold an early lead in race 3. Fish, sailing his piece of Synergy furniture, reeled him in on the first set of reaches to take the lead, and despite trying to finish a lap early, had pace on the fleet to take his third straight win. Behind him, Burton just kept Curtis at bay to hold second, and Robert Deaves claimed fourth after Lee had a swimming incident on the second reach. The breeze dropped slightly for the start of race 4, and Curtis started to show his usual mid-range pace, getting round the first mark just in front and comfortably holding to take his first race win. Child got into second and was never headed, and Deaves went one better with a third. The big event of the race was back in the pack at the first windward mark, where Alex Scoles misjudged his windward mark approach on port and ended up crash-tacking and capsizing directly in front of Fish, causing a bit of a tangle. Once they had extracted themselves, the pair were a leg behind the leaders. With the breeze dropping to a force 2, Scoles opted to retire, while Fish couldn't haul his way back into contention, and with no damage couldn't claim redress - posting a rather grumpy 17th. The race officer did a really good job on day 3 keeping the course true in the face of regular 30 degree shifts. The three protagonists for the title managed to get clear of the fleet and have good tussle, with Curtis keeping his nose in front with Child and Fish snapping at his heals. On the last beat Fish managed to inspect his centreboard again, allowing both Child through to second and a fast finishing Julian Burnham through to third. Race 6 was one of snakes and ladders, as the breeze turned patchy and shifty. Keith Byers put in a strong showing only to overhauled later on. Woods took a large left shift up the second beat to steam roll into the lead, only to lose it in the final stages to Child who sailed really smartly to pick his way to the front. Deaves again sailed a clever race to finish third, whilst Curtis and Fish along with several others hit one too many snakes to put in results they'd rather forget. So, going in to the last day, Child and Curtis were tied on points with almost identical results; whilst Deaves was hard on the heels of Fish in third and fourth some 10 points back. Child charged off the line to lead the first race from start to finish. Fish pulled through the fleet to get within a boat length of Child in the building breeze but couldn't quite squeeze past for the race win. Curtis could only recover to fourth just behind Deaves after having a bad first beat. This meant he still had it all to do in the final race. He didn't really disappoint, leading Child over to the unfavoured right hand side, putting both of them deep down the fleet. At the same time, Fish and Deaves tussled at the front for the race lead with Alex Scoles briefly taking the lead offwind in the fresh conditions. Fish won the pie contest up the second beat to get in front of Deaves and took his fourth race win of the series and third overall. Meanwhile, Curtis used his famed downwind pace to come through the fleet to catch up to Deaves. In a photo finish, Deaves took second with Curtis third, but with Child finishing in seventh place, the fleet sailed in thinking that Terry Curtis had come back from the brink to win his fourth OK Dinghy British National title. But then the race officer revealed that 2118 (Curtis), 2145 (Tony Wood) and 2027 (Nick Frampton) were all OCS. Curtis was out, and the title belonged to the deserving Lee Child. Report: Jon Fish Ardleigh SC 15th Sept ard12 rank sail_no helm club R1 R2 R3 pts 1st 2045 Will Turner Overy Staithe 2 7 1 3 2nd 2120 Dan Ager Waldringfield 1 5 2 3 3rd 2151 Jon Fish Waldringfield 3 1 dnf 4 4th 2152 Lee Child Dabchicks 5 2 3 5 5th 2075 Paul Constable Ardleigh 6 3 5 8 6th 2138 Robert Deaves Waldringfield 7 4 4 8 7th 2100 Toby Ramsay Dabchicks 4 11 9 13 8th 2088 Roland Gadsby Upper Thames dns 9 6 15 9th 2064 Trevor Child Dabchicks 8 12 7 15 10th 2123 Andy Turner Overy Staithe 10 6 dnf 16 11th 2071 Bob Bourne Up River 11 8 8 16 12th 2059 Pater Turner Overy Staithe 9 10 dns 19 13th 2032 Tim Hurst Dabchicks 12 13 10 25 14th 2136 Simon Cox Waldringfield dnf dnf dns 30 The OK Dinghy East Coast Windshift Classic Part one - A competitive fleet of 13 Oks including three of the top four from the recent national championships at the arrived at Ardleigh Sailing Club on Saturday 15th September for three races in generally light but extremely shifty conditions. There was a warning that the wind direction was not the best for Ardleigh. However Steve Eade managed to run three hotly contested races. Jonathan Fish and Toby Ramsey pulled clear in the first race, swapping positions throughout. By the final mark Will Turner and Daniel Ager had caught up sufficiently to be able to attack Fish and Ramsey on the short final beat to the finish. Fish and Ager carried on and Ramsey and Turner tacked off. When the four boats re-converged, Fish who had been leading was unable to clear the starboard tack boats and tacked away. Ager ducked them and was able to cross the line in first having lost no time in having to tack again. All four boats crossed the line within a second of each other. Turner was second, Fish third and Ramsey after all his efforts an unlucky fourth. The second race was led for the first round by Ager who then lost his way with the shifts. Fish and national champion Lee Child sailed through upwind. Managing to fall out of his boat on a particularly big header didn't slow Child up too much. He finished second with Fish first and Robert Deaves third. After a fantastic lunch of shepherds pie (and something for the vegetarians) followed by apple crumble and custard the final deciding race got underway. Will Turner, closely followed by Ager pulled away from the rest of the fleet. Will led until the end of the second beat when a bit more breeze and a favourable wind shift let Ager through who then pulled away to establish a comfortable lead. Child had caught up with Turner and for the next couple of laps they were racing for second and third. Will though is a canny sort as shown in the first race and with a couple of hundred yards to go split tacks with Child, with Lee sailing towards the direction of the finish line. Ager was less than fifty yards or so from the line in breeze. What could possibly go wrong for him? As it turned out, Will was able to cross ahead to win the race and the event, the result of the last race being all important. Ager finished second overall and Jonathan Fish third. Ardleigh SC put on good days racing that was shared with the Enterprises. As always they provided a very friendly welcome and with a homemade lunch and tea included in the very reasonable entry it made for a day well spent. Waldringfield SC - Cartoon Trophy 16th Sept cart12 SailNo Helm Name R1 R2 R3 Total Nett 2152 LEE CHILD 1 -2 1 4 2 2151 JONATHAN FISH 2 -4 2 8 4 2120 DAN AGER -4 1 4 9 5 2138 ROBERT DEAVES -3 3 3 9 6 2136 SIMON COX -7 5 5 17 10 1966 TIM O'LEARY 6 6 -7 19 12 2036 LUKE FARTHING 5 -8 8 21 13 2137 SIMON SHAW -8 7 6 21 13 Part two of a weekend of open events on the east coast took place twenty five miles up the road at Waldringfield SC as part of the annual Cartoon Open meeting. An event shared with a multitude of other classes. A smaller fleet of OKs turned up to race in generally breezier, though still shifty conditions. The start of race one saw the Lark fleet crossing though the start line perfectly in time with the OK start. Not ideal for either class. Lee Child and the Fish pulled out a comfortable lead. The key to success was to get through the traffic of the other fleets. This Lee did to best effect and pulled clear away to a comfortable win. Fish was a clear second and Robert Deaves never seriously challenged for third place. The second race was started with no other fleets about. The beat to the windward mark saw Ager take the lead closely followed by Child. On a gusty downwind leg, those two pulled a long way clear of the rest of the fleet. Lee was ahead by the bottom mark. He decided to tack off straight away into the traffic. Ager carried on into clearer air. Lee then met a Squib coming across on starboard who took him across the other side of the river whilst Ager had sufficient room to duck and then be lifted to the next mark and into a comfortable lead that he held to the finish of a very short race. Lee was in no danger of losing second place and Deaves was third. The final race could see the Fish, Ager or Child win the event. As it turned out Ager did not make much of an impression on the race. Deaves, Child, the Fish and Simon Cox arrived at the first mark in close company. From a personal point of view Simon will be fed up of seeing the transom of Fish and Child. Professionally however he must be very pleased that the hulls he built for them in his Synergy Marine workshop are proving to be so successful so quickly. It was again Fish and Child that opened up a good lead and it looked like Fish had the event in the bag until another Squib intervention by one of their backmarkers, on a reach with a strongly held conviction of "thou shalt not pass on my windward side". Afterwards, Lee commented that he had "seen the madness in her eyes" and went low. This proved to be a winning move for the race and the event. Fish came in second in the race and overall. Deaves again had a third in the race but finished fourth overall. Third place went to Ager. Inland Championships 29th & 30th September inlands12 Rank SailNo HelmName Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 Total Nett 1st 2118 Terry Curtis Weymouth SC 3 2 2 (28.0 DNC) 2 1 38 10 2nd 2150 Jim Hunt 1 1 -9 1 5 3 20 11 3rd 2152 Lee Child Dabchicks / WMYC 4 4.5 -6 2 1 4 21.5 15.5 4th 2151 Jon Fish 2 4.5 -7 4 3 2 22.5 15.5 5th 2116 Ed Bradburn South Staffs SC 6 3 -10 3 4 7 33 23 6th 2138 Robert Deaves Waldringfield SC 9 6 -13 5 6 5 44 31 7th 2121 Anthony Rich 8 9 5 6 -12 6 46 34 8th 2123 Andy Turner 5 8 -14 8 13 9 57 43 9th 2145 Tony Woods Etherow CP SC (28.0 DNF) 15 1 11 7 13 75 47 10th 2101 Julian Burnham RYA 10 -13 8 13 8 10 62 49 11th 2084 Keith Byers Morecambe & Heysham YC 15 12 11 -17 10 8 73 56 12th 2149 M Bower Blithfield SC 11 11 12 16 9 (28.0 DNC) 87 59 13th 2141 Simon Davis Upper Thames SC 14 7 4 10 (28.0 DNC) 28.0 DNC 91 63 14th 2135 William Bradburn South Staffs SC -21 16 16 12 16 14 95 74 15th 2087 Mark Billowes Bristol Corinthian YC 16 14 22 7 18 (28.0 DNC) 105 77 16th 2130 Deryck Lovegrove Burghfield SC 17 10 -25 24 17 11 104 79 17th 2080 Ben Steel South Staff SC 12 (28.0 DNC) 19 28.0 BFD 11 12 110 82 18th 2015 Hugh Sheehy RSGYC Dun Laoghaire 13 20 -23 21 15 16 108 85 19th 2132 Adrian Hollier 20 17 3 18 (28.0 DNC) 28.0 DNC 114 86 20th 2042 Richard Burton 7 (28.0 DNC) 18 20 14 28.0 DNC 115 87 21st 2088 Roland Gadsby 19 18 17 15 (28.0 DNC) 28.0 DNC 125 97 22nd 2104 Paul Pike Covenham SC 23 21 -24 22 19 15 124 100 23rd 2125 Sam Thomson South Staffs SC 24 19 21 14 (28.0 DNC) 28.0 DNC 134 106 24th 2107 Bob Bourne Up River YC (28.0 DNC) 28.0 DNC 15 9 28.0 DNC 28.0 DNC 136 108 25th 2148 Chris Perry 18 (28.0 DNC) 20 19 28.0 DNC 28.0 DNC 141 113 26th 1927 Colin Page Calshot SC 25 (28.0 DNC) 26 23 28.0 DNF 28.0 DNC 158 130 27th 2136 Simon Cox Waldringfield SC 22 (28.0 DNF) 28.0 DNC 28.0 DNC 28.0 DNC 28.0 DNC 162 134 27 OKs from the corners of England and one visitor from Ireland descended on Northampton Sailing Club 29/30 September. The weather gods were looking on favourably as the fleet were greeted with glorious sunshine and 15mph winds on the picturesque Pitsford Reservoir. In race 1, Ed Bradburn shot away at the start along with Jon Fish and Lee Child but the crafty Jim Hunt worked his way through the field, lap after lap sneaking in from the left at the windward mark and it was ultimately Jim who stole the win from Fish after many downwind luffing battles between the top 4. Andy Turner stayed out of trouble and came home 5th. Race 2 got underway at the second time of asking after a very clear general recall saw the race officer get the black flag out rather than watch endless recalls. Bradburn again always seemed to be going the right way up the beats but it was Hunt's ability to avoid the snakes that gave him the second win from 2 races which was a clear signal to the fleet! Curtis came home second. Race 3 was a bit lighter and saw some different faces out the front. Antony Rich led for much of the race but was overhauled and ended 5th but deserved to have been higher. Adrian Hollier kept it together and ended 3rd but it was Tony Woods who sniffed out the shifts best and impressively picked his way to get line honours. The highlight of Race 4 was Curtis trawling for weed as he got a bit close to the bank which slipped him back down the pack. He didn't learn from his mistake on the second lap and after getting so much weed stuck on his centreboard that it wouldn't come out again, he decided enough was enough and went back to the club for an early cuppa. At the front Hunt and Child had a sizeable lead by the final lap and the result went the way of Hunt after a tacking duel on the final leg. Bradburn again put in a solid performance in third. Day 2 dawned and people dragged themselves shivering out of tents and cars. Thankfully the full English breakfast and endless cups of tea got the competitors ready for the days racing with a forecast that was set to build all day. Race 5, Child won the favoured pin end and managed to lead from start to finish whilst the race was much more interesting behind. After numerous place changes behind, ultimately the consistent Curtis snuck into second place by half a boat length from Fish at different ends of the line. Going into the final race, Jim was leading by one point and with Curtis preferring the fresher conditions it was going to be an interesting finale to the Championship. Race 6 blew up with 25mph gusts fanning down the lake from over the dam by the end of the race. Anyone who didn't swim at least once deserved a medal and even Robert Deaves had an unplanned hull inspection on a tight reach which was his first capsize for a couple of years! Ultimately the race win went to Curtis and with Jim in 3rd was enough for Curtis to take the title by one point from Hunt. Child and Fish were tied on points but Child took 3rd on countback and Bradburn was 5th. Northampton SC should be very proud for putting on a well-run, friendly event both on and off the water! Burghfield SC 6th October bur12 Rank SailNo HelmName Club R1 R2 R3 Nett 1st 2141 Simon Davis Burghfield SC 1 1 -3 2 2nd 2129 Richard Willetts Burghfield SC -3 2 1 3 3rd 2142 Ian Harris Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club 2 -3 2 4 4th 2130 Deryck Lovegrove Burghfield SC 4 -5 4 8 5th 2144 Rhys Lankester Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club 5 4 (7 DNF) 9 6th 1728 Nigel Milligan Burghfield SC (7 DNF) 7 DNF 7 DNF 14 Noble Marine Youth & Junior Championship, South Staffs SC 13th October yjc12 rank helm club R1 R2 R3 R4 category 1 Sam Blocksidge South Staffs 2 2 1 1 U21 2 Sam Woods Glossop 4 1 2 DNF U21 3 Adriam Walker South Staffs 1 6 3 3 U21 4 George Hunter Haversham 3 5 4 DNF U17 5 Connie Hicklin South Staffs 8 4 5 DNF U19 6 Sam Thomson South Staffs 9 DNF 8 2 U19 7 Eleanor Davies South Staffs 12 9 7 4 U19 8 Oliver Goodhead South Staffs 10 7 DNF 5 U17 9 Mark Fleming South Staffs 7 8 9 DNF U21 10 Ben Steel South Staffs 6 3 DNF DNC U21 11 Matt Bates South Staffs 11 13 12 6 U19 12 Moira Thresher West Oxford 13 11 10 8 U21 13 Mark Billows Bristol Corintihian 5 DNF 6 DNF U21 14 Will Hawkins South Staffs 15 12 11 7 U17 15 Megan Hicklin South Staffs 14 10 DNF 9 U17 16 Emily Herridge West Oxford 16 14 DNF 10 U21 17 Joe Hutchinson South Staffs 18 15 DNF DNC U17 18 Robert Massey South Staffs 17 DNF DNF DNC U17 Eighteen young sailors arrived at South Staffs SC to contest the Noble Marine Youth and Junior Championship on the 13th October 2012. Their experience ranged from very experienced OK helms, RYA youth squad sailors new to OKs and young club sailors who were experiencing the boat for the first time. The conditions varied from nearly no wind to planing conditions which tested the abilities of all the competitors - it was very difficult to be consistent through all of the four races held and the standard of racing was very high with even the slowest sailors managing to stay within ten minutes of the leaders. Two races were held before the lunch break and these produced two different winners - the first race was won by Adrian Walker from the home club who is the new Junior Rep. for the OK Class Association. He sailed through the top end of the fleet to build a comfortable lead by the finish - was he setting the pace for the rest of the day? Sam Blocksidge, another regular OK helm who has been winning GP14 meetings as well, sailed into second, having been given a hard time by George Hunter from Haversham. George is normally seen in a Topper and was lent a boat for the day - to come into this fleet with so little experience of this technically challenging boat and to produce such performances shows a considerable sailing talent especially as he was in the 16 and under age category. Sam Woods from Glossop was fourth in the first race - he then set about showing the fleet how to do it in the second race with a resounding victory. Sam Blocksidge continued his very consistent performance to post another second, third was Ben Steel from South Staffs and fourth was Connie Hicklin from South Staffs - a change from crewing for Sam Blocksidge in his GP and helming anything else that floats at South Staffs! At lunch there were a number of helms in the frame to win and a number who could contest the age groups. Mark Billows from Bristol Corinthian had a fifth in the first race and Ollie Goodhead seventh in the second race. George was scoring a 3 and 5 so was a strong contender. The first race in the afternoon started with George rounding the first mark from Sam Blocksidge. Sam managed to ease in to the lead and then the rain came! With the rain came the wind, enough for some proper planning. This caught out some of the lighter and less experienced helms who were a bit slow to get the controls in order and handle the boat when it became a bit livelier. Sam Blocksidge consolidated his lead, Sam Woods pulled through to second Adrian Walker was third and George got his act back together in the breeze to hold fourth - the wind dropped and that was the finishing order. Ollie Goodhead, only 13 years of age, about seven stone and some of the lighter helms retired from that race. Connie Hicklin sailed through in fifth place still in medal contention for start of the last race. The last race saw light wind again and the pressure was definitely on the leaders - a general recall ensued and the restart - with some competitors still not line shy with the black flag in place- was won by Megan Hicklin from South Staffs. However the order at the first mark was again George followed by Sam Blocksidge and Sam Thomson from South Staffs. The two Sams then set about racing away from the fleet in fine style building a substantial lead. Sam Thomson sailed very consistently behind Sam Blocksidge - not allowing him the luxury of any small mistake - but Blocksidge was Mr Consistent and won the race and the meeting with two wins and two seconds. Third was Adrian Walker and fourth was Eleanor Davies form the home club. A few competitors managed to get confused by the signals showing a mark had been moved and contrived to round a mark the wrong way. Noble Marine sponsored the event through their continuing support for the OK Association and the prize list was further enhanced by the generosity of Pinnell and Bax. The overall winner was Sam Blocksidge and prizes were awarded through the fleet for the age groups and ladies- recipients being Sam Woods, Adrian Walker, George Hunter, Connie Hicklin, Sam Thomson,Ollie Goodhead, and Mark Billows. There was a raffle for a P&B rudder bag - for the trusting owners who lent their boats for the event - only two of the competitors actually sailed their own boats and some of them had very little OK experience if any at all. This was won by Tom Lonsdale from West Oxford SC. The OOD awarded a spot prize for a younger helm with the least experience who made the best effort - this was won by Joe Hutchinson from South staffs. Thank you Noble, without your help we would not have been able to run such a good event encouraging the future in the class, and we hope that we can count on your continued support of the OK Class in the UK. Report by Bill Bradburn --> South Staffs SC 14th October ss12 Rank SailNo HelmName Club R1 R2 R3 Nett 1st 2128 Senior Mike SSSC -1 1 1 2 2nd 2125 Goodhead Neil SSSC 4 -8 2 6 3rd 2126 Edwards Mike SSSC 5 2 (23 OCS) 7 4th 2121 Burton Richard WOSC -10 3 4 7 5th 2150 Davis Andy Blithfield 3 4 (23 OCS) 7 6th 2141 Davis Simon UTSC 2 7 -8 9 7th 2087 Billows Mark Bristol Corinthian 7 -11 3 10 8th 2116 White Chris SSSC -6 6 6 12 9th 2107 Bird Norman Northampton 8 5 (23 DNF) 13 10th 2127 Andy Holmes SSSC -15 12 5 17 11th 2108 Croxford Will SSSC -12 9 9 18 12th 217 Walker Adrian SSSC -14 13 7 20 13th 2135 Bradburn William SSSC -11 10 10 20 14th 1980 Macaulay Keith SSSC 13 -15 13 26 15th 2080 Thomson Sam SSSC 16 -17 11 27 16th 2092 Blocksidge John SSSC 17 -18 12 29 17th 2128 Cook Chris SSSC -18 16 14 30 18th 2145 Woods Tony Glossop SC 9 (23 DNF) 23 DNF 32 19th 2068 Tom Lonsdale WOSC 19 14 (23 DNC) 33 20th 2067 Bates Matt SSSC -20 19 15 34 21st 1650 Hickman Graham SSSC -21 20 16 36 22nd 1967 Dowell Ian SSSC (23 DNF) 23 DNS 23 DNS 46 Following on from the extremely successful Noble Marine Youth and Junior Championships the previous day and an excellent evening of entertainment laid on by the host club, a few awoke a little bleary eyed! The 22 competitors were greeted by fog, not a breath of wind and a real chill in the air. This allowed plenty of time for everyone to prepare their boats, relax and chat with coffee and bacon rolls. As time rolled on everyone started to wonder whether we would get any sailing in at all. We need not have worried, as we were in the capable hands of Paul Goodhead, the most experienced race officer at South Staffs Sailing Club. Paul is 85 years of age, still going strong and he reassured the fleet by making preparations for all eventualities. As if by magic the fog cleared, then the wind appeared, not a lot, but enough. Race 1 started first time with a long diagonal beat to the other corner of the reservoir. Picking the shifts was vital and it was local GP14 legend Mike Senior who rounded first with a number of the other favourites hot on his heels. The wind was a little patchy which meant that losses and gains were seen right through the fleet. Senior continued to lead being pushed hard for most of the race by Simon Davis from Upper Thames with Andy Davis (Taxi) trying out an OK again in third. By the finish Senior had a comfortable led to take the bullet from Davies in second, Taxi third and after a poor first beat Neil Goodhead was flying through the fleet to finish fourth, with Mike Edwards also coming through to take fifth. Everyone then headed in for an excellent lunch provided by Carol Danbury and her team. Race 2 started with more breeze and a chance for everyone apart from Burt to stretch their legs. Senior shot out the line to lead at the first mark from Taxi, then newcomer to the OK Class Norman Bird in third and Mike Edwards fourth. Senior then decided to embarrass those behind him by sailing off to a commanding lead. Behind things were not so straight forward with a real battle developing with Goodhead and Richard Burton (Burt) joining the chasing pack. Goodhead then fell back from a good position after heading to what proved to be the wrong side of the island on the run. Edwards was challenging for second when he got caught out on port by Taxi approaching a mark and did his turns dropping him back. This left Taxi, Bird and Burt fighting it out for second. Edwards clearly spurred on by his mistake was coming up fast and by the final mark rounded second ahead of Burt and Taxi. Senior crossed the line first with a huge lead to take his second win of the day and the event in fine style. Edwards in second just ahead of Burt after a very shifty last beat, Taxi fourth with Bird just hanging on to fifth. Race 3 and things got going early as Taxi decided the only way to beat Mike Senior was to start 15 seconds early and he dragged a number over with him. Some went back and some didn't. Those at the starboard end benefitted as Taxi was at the port end, plus they had more pressure. Goodhead raced into the lead and reached the windward mark first ahead of... you know who. Young Mark Billows from Bristol Corinthian had a storming first beat to round third ahead of Burt. After the first lap the front two of Goodhead and Senior had established a good lead on the rest. Behind them a real ding dong was taking place between Billows, Burt, Chris White, Andy Holmes and Edwards. Billows sailing an excellent race, to just about maintain third from Burt and Edwards. Meanwhile Goodhead and Senior were having a tacking battle up the last beat with Senior just managing to take his third race win of the day. Way behind, it was Edwards who rounded the final mark in third just ahead of Billows and Burt. Using his experience Edwards maintained his position to the finish, but no gun was sounded as he was over the line at the start. This left Billows with an excellent third place with Burt close behind in fourth and Holmes fifth. Many thanks must go to everyone involved from South Staffs SC and to P and B for helping out with the prizes. Report by - UK International OK Class Association