14 Visitors and 2 Home boats converged on a very sunny Oxford Sailing Club on 1 st July, light winds were forecast, but there was some moments of relief where the wind picked up taking the heat out of the sun.

Race 1 saw Barry Buzzard first round the windward mark following by Steve Hawley and Grant Brown, all having sailed more extreme courses. But with Paul Earnshaw and Chris Hawley close behind it didn’t take them long to haul in Brown. A gap started to develop which saw a close racing for the first four places, with C.Hawley taking first followed by S.Hawley, Earnshaw and Buzzard. Mike Hobin came good heading up the rest of the fleet.

Race 2 With the wind becoming variable by the windward mark reading the wind shifts became much harder, C.Hawley was first to the windward mark after catching a late port lift. Earnshaw, S.Hawley, Brown and Jeff Mountain were keen not to get left behind. S.Hawley took line honours followed by C.Hawley, Mountain and Earnshaw. Mark Giles made a late charge to come in for 5 th.

With all to play for in Race 3 the wind picked up and shifted to allow the fleet to lay the windward mark in one tack. Geoff Birch reached the windward mark first followed by Giles, Brown and Alan Simmons. With the closest racing of the day the fleet was tight through out the course with C.Hawley making a break to lead the fleet around but with second place constantly changing. With the wind dropping off the race officer indicated a shortened course, with both Hawleys close to the line, C.Hawley tacked off looking for the incoming wind, unfortunately for him it filled from the opposite direction presenting S.Hawley with 1 st place. C.Hawley crossed for second followed by Brown, Giles and Mountain.

Full Results