So after a five-hour wait for the rescue service we were told they could not fix it at that time of night and to park up for the night, and they would sort it in the morning.

As the forecast for the weekend was looking good, and there was no way I was going to miss racing if I could help it, so we carried on up the road with a hundred and fifty miles still to go and at times a top speed of 15 miles an hour it was a slow trip arriving finally in the early hours of Saturday, but we had made it.

Saturday morning we had sun and plenty of wind almost too much, I was first out and sailed the course a couple of times to find the best lay lines up and downwind, the wind here can be very shifty, race one went to plan I got a first, Tim Gibson was second, followed by Chris Bond in third.

Race 2 and again everything was going well until I had a header on the beat allowing Tim to take the lead which he held on to until the run to the finish where I gybed inside him and claimed the lead back by the finish so results for race two was the same as race one.

After lunch we went back on the water for race three and wind was now really blowing up to 34 knots and a very choppy sea, it took a while to get us away for this one as the committee boat kept dragging its anchor, and they had to change boats.

I had a good start in this one again and led for the first half of the race until I gybed and got hit by a big gust half way though and ended it with a swim, however, I managed to claim the lead back going up the second beat as I tacked early hoping to get a lift which I got but only to loose it again just near the windward mark so dropped back to third Tim was second, and Chris Bond was first. So the end of racing for the day, the wind was 25 – 34 knots and used 9.5 Reflex all day.

Sunday with the wind was slowly building all morning which gave us a bit of a rest and time to recover after the previous hard day. Finally, we were called out the wind was 12 – 14 knots and was building so I took Reflex 10.7 thinking it would keep building while Tim and Chris both went 12m again. I led the first half of the race then lost out to Tim as the wind dropped, Tim won this one I was second and Chris third, so back to the beach and waited for the wind.

After a while it was back on the water and this time I was determined not to make the same mistake so took the 11.5 Reflex wrong decision, again the wind was blowing 20 knots plus for this one. I again led the first lap, but wind was really shifty and ended up on the wrong side of a shift and dropped to fourth, however on the last downwind leg I risked everything and managed to get inside everyone and made an early gybe and took the lead by the finish, Tim dropped from 1st to fourth, Chris made it to second and fellow Severne sailor James Batty made it into third.

Overall Results for Weekend 1st Dave Coles – Severne – Starboard 2nd Tim Gibson Gaastra North 3rd Chris Bond Point 7 – Gaastra Ist Youth Jame Batty – Severne