43 intrepid sailors faced blustery, shifting winds in intermittent sunshine at Cotswold Sailing Club's joint Supernova and Lightning Open on 9th May and enjoyed a day of tight competitive sailing throughout both fleets. The 32 Supernovas went first. Pakes,Gibson, Harper, Bond and Undrell led to the windward mark ahead of a phalanx. But by the end of lap 1 Milliner had worked his way into third place behind Pakes and Gibson and just ahead of Bond and Undrell. They crossed the line in that order after five more testing laps.

A 3-course lunch vanished in a trice amid great good humour and the fleet re-launched to the excitement of a new well-set course. The Hawley brothers braved a port-end start and got away with it. Steve Hawley was 5th to the windward mark behind Gibson, Milliner, Pakes and Bond and that was the eventual result. The final race, back-to-back, saw Steve Hawley win every lap. Behind him Milliner climbed four places to second, Chris Hawley claimed a consistent third, Hewett slipped to 4th and Gibson cruised in at 5th. Further down, the fleet jockeyed similarly but a deep fast reach included a trap for the unwary where the wind swirled round an island and took its toll. Most exhilarating!

Overall result (last year's placing in brackets):
1st Mike Gibson, Bartley SC (1st)
2nd Richard Pakes, Haversham SC
3rd Cliff Milliner, Cotswold SC
4th Steve Hawley, Severn SC (4th)
5th Keith Bond, Upton Warren SC

Full results here.

Gallery of Pics courtesy of Dave Watton here.