t was a magic day's racing on the Sunday with a 15-16 knot thermal enhancement making some great racing, with the light winds on the Saturday, you had to be a jack of all trades!

On the Saturday the breeze just about held before the sea breeze switch for the first race. With a very shifty first beat, it actually meant the 800 fleet could tack on quite a few shifts and gain upwind making for some great tactical racing. Up the first beat Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes and Daniel Allen made the most of these conditions to lead from David Hivey and Katrina Hughes (sailingtogs.com). These two extended from the fleet and Justin / Emma Deal sailed extremely well in the third lap and dying breeze to jump the chasing bunch and claim third place.

The breeze then died off and swung round to the sea breeze direction but didn't get up much more than 7-8 knots for the rest of the day. Race two got underway after a general recall. With a starboard biased line and the sea breeze favouring the right it paid to be aggressive on the line. Frances Peters and Nicola Groves revelled in these conditions and flew up the first beat to lead well at the windward. They were not challenged for the rest of the race and won comfortably. Rob Watson and John Clifton sailed well to finish second (a very consistent day!) With Laurie/Daniel sailing very cleverly to round out the top three.

In race three again the right side of the course paid and the boats that were able to tack out early made big gains. Justin/Emma were quick to get onto port and lead at the windward mark. They went on to win well showing some excellent pace downwind. Again Frances/Nicola showed their pace to finish second with Adam Brushett and Jody Warner having a blinding race to comfortably finish in third.

It has to be said that Eastbourne is one of the most friendly clubs we get to visit! They put on an excellent (and cheap!) meal in the evening and a great night was had by all (with a few sore heads in the morning after a trip to the local nightclub!).

In the morning we arrived to more breeze than forecast and the thermal effect just made it even better!

Race four started in about 15 knots. After a general recall at the first attempt SailingTogs picked two good shifts to round the first mark in the lead with James Date and Toby Wincer (RWO) dusting off their sore heads to round in second. By the bottom of the run Nick Charles and Christian Humphrey had fought through to second place. They showed some excellent place to overhaul SailingTogs on the last run only too see that they were OCS. This gave the win to SailingTogs with Dan Kilsby and Bart Bridgen (marinesuperstore.com) second. Winning the battle with the main pack of boats Tom Halhead and Stu Jagger (secondhanddinghy.com) closed off the top three.

Race 5 got away first time. The fleet spit with SailingTogs leading the boats from the left and Andy Jefferies / Alex Koukourakis finding their form to win the right hand battle. The switching tide meant that Andy/Alex made the right choice to lead well round the windward and disappeared to win by a comfortable margin. Sailingtogs rounded in second but then capsized on the hoist leaving them looking fairly scared while boats tried to avoid them just after hoisting themselves. MarineSuperstore showed some exceptional pace to pick up to second by the end of the race With Laurie / Dainiel being consistent as always in second.

In the final race the breeze piped up just that little bit so that the 'levers' in the fleet could really stretch their legs. SailingTogs rounded in first from Andy and Alex with RWO in third. These three showed some great speed to extend from the rest of the fleet over the three laps. SailingTogs looked to have it in the bad before Andy Alex spotted a great shift right at the end of the first beat and jumped up into first. The race finished in this order.

Overall Laurie and Daniel won comfortably from Rob and John in second with SailingTogs closing off the podium. The top few boats never posted results outside the top 6 in very challenging conditions and well deserved their placings.

A huge thanks should go to the race team and shore crew who were exemplary over the course of the weekend! Great club and brilliant sailing.

Photos and video footage at http://www.sailing-at-eastbourne.co.uk/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=categories&Itemid=63

The next event is at Beer on the 16-17th June. The fleet is growing event by event and all the new entrants are coming back to the next event meaning that the fleet is growing. It really is a great boat to race and with sailors ranging from club sailors to olympic medalists yachting around you really can't beat the competition. If you have a boat at your club but haven't come to a circuit event yet, dust off the cobwebs and come along to Beer!