Saturday's conditions were extreme, with all bar Bill Dawber and Graham Dalton (Laser 2000) felled before or during a race characterised by strong winds and vicious gusts – one at gale strength.

Dawber and Dalton led the fleet home – though early on Malcolm Buchanan (Laser) had showed a great turn of speed off the start line – and carried off first-place points comfortably.

But they were set to concede to Gordon Barclay (Solo), close enough at the finish to benefit from his higher yardstick number – except he passed the wrong side of the last mark and, when he realised his error, had to sail out again from the shore to complete the course.

Buchanan took second, and Chris West (Laser Radial) third.

A second safety boat had to be launched to tow back the boat which had covered the racing but developed an engine fault.

That was delayed, leaving the stricken boat and crew anchored off Copperas Point while a non-racing capsized dinghy was aided and towed back. The planned second race was sensibly cancelled.

Sunday brought sunshine and a wind that was sometimes too light – and a much larger fleet.

Race one saw the competitors cluster together after they had spread out on the initial legs, and as they headed home, the solos of Barclay and Mike Van Klaveren were close enough to the faster-rated boats to take first and second on handicap, ahead of Richard Ede (laser) and Dawber, crewed by his wife Charlotte.

A sea breeze filled in for race two, allowing two longer laps to be sailed.

The Dawbers led for much of the time, and though Buchanan, sailing his RS400 with wife Jean, finally finished ahead, the gap was nowhere near enough, and they dropped to fifth. Two more L2ks filled second and third slots. Barclay was fourth.

The Dawbers could be beaten only by Barclay – if he won the race.
Gale-force gusts and rain deterred many and only four set sail in improving conditions.

For the first two laps, Barclay and West traded places at the front. But Barclay escaped on the third lap and finished ahead, for a very comfortable race win.

He took the series on tie-break from the Dawbers, with West third, Buchanan fourth and Chris Ede (Rooster 8.1) fifth.

Now Dell Quay is gearing up for one of its Topper meeting on June 2 – information on the club website www.dqsc.co.uk.

BOGNOR

Conditions suited to the more adventurous catamaran sailors made for some exciting racing as the spring series continued.

Commodore Ken Green and crew Greg Walters in a dart 18 and Paul Adams and crew George Richards in a hobie 16 exchanged the lead four times with Green taking the win, Adams second. Third were John Oliver and Andy Hannibal.

The second race, for the Miles Cup, saw much the same as Adams and Green took on the wind and waves again.

This time, Adams crossed the line first with Green behind.

Third were Jo Hemsley and John Fleming in a dart 18. The other catamarans enjoyed flying around the course and slicing through 5ft waves.

CHICHESTER

The bad bank holiday weather didn't deter Chichester sailors, though the planned 'up-the-creek' race on Monday was abandoned in favour of a longish course within the lake.

On Sunday, racing was run without major mishap.

The chosen course brought criticism because, it was alleged, the short run to Monkey left the boats too closely bunched to allow smaller ones to get clear air.

But despite the supposed disadvantage, the first four boats on corrected time in race nine in the Lady Todd Series were all single-handers.

Derek Jackman won, Laurence Murray was second, both in solos; Richard Smale was third in his streaker, and Ron Green fourth in a solo.

In race ten, Simon Kings won in his laser, but Roger Clare and Nick Elliman were second in a RS400. Roger Millett was third in his Laser.

In the slow fleet, Meryl Dean won one race in her feva, and Jessica Morley the other in her topper.

On Monday, conditions were worse, and the race officer decided that to send the fleet well out of sight was not safe. He set a longer course than usual in the lake.

The wind was still strong, and backed after the race began.

The two RS400s and the merlin led on the water, but the lasers were close on their heels, and when the handicaps had been worked out, Charles Porter won in his laser.

Nick and Roger Elliman were second in their RS400, Ian Payne third in his laser, and Roger and Andy Clare fourth in their RS400.

Two rounds, sailed quickly, seemed to be quite sufficient.