After the preceding few weekends of all or nothing weather conditions the 10 Bosses who turned out for the first open meeting of the year at Draycote Water were welcomed by a light breeze. After a quick briefing and stocking up on water and stickies the crews took to the water for a 3 back to back series of races. Race one saw everyone clear the line within seconds and the first beat provided very close racing with no one venturing too far to either side of the course. First round the mark was Peter Bennett closely followed by Julian Cramp and Martin Sully. Although Bennett established himself in first place, behind him there were regular place changes especially upwind where the wind shifts occasionally reversed the order back to front. This ensured that racing was always very close with places being hard fought especially on the leeward mark. Final positions were Bennett, Gandy and Sully. Race two provided similarly close racing with positions at the first mark of Cramp, Bennett and Sully. Cramp then proceeded to make his way towards the back of the fleet and Gandy who had suffered a bad start worked his way forward. The third lap saw a shift in the wind which enabled Cramp to recover some lost ground and the final positions were Bennett, Cramp and Gandy. In the last race of the day and fading wind the last race provided an entertaining start as two boats stalled on the line causing chaos at the favored end. The wind became light and more shifty this race with positions at the first mark of Cramp, Bennett and Gandy changing relatively little. During the race Gandy gained the edge and pulled a few meters ahead of Bennett who was a few meters ahead of Cramp. With just the last leg to go Gandy stalled after a tack and allowed Bennett and Cramp through and then to cap it all stalled on the line to allow Sully through to third.

In the evening the local Chinese restaurant provided an excellent alternative to in club catering and after a few shandys the crews went back to their beds. Most had a good nights sleep although one crew on erecting their tent had found it looked more like a mushroom farm after having packed it away damp at the end of last year. Still, the fried mushrooms for breakfast were apparently great.

The next day the wind was very similar but with slightly stronger puffs. Again it was a three back to back series. On the first leg Gandy broke his main halyard and retired to fix it, Bennett capsized avoiding a collision with another class allowing Dan Dixon to take the lead with they held to the finish. Final positions in this race were Dixon, Bennett followed by Steve 'mushroom farmer' Murry. In race 2 Cramp broke his mainsheet strops and had to retire to fix them. The fleet split on this race with Bennett, Dixon and Gandy clear ahead and the positions stayed like this to the finish. The last race saw a blinder from Rory Ellis who picked up a wind shift on the left that took him well clear of the fleet on the second lap but the tireless gnawing away by Bennett and Dixon eventually relegated Ellis to third by the finish.

Our thanks to the race officer who did a great job in the conditions, to Draycote Water SC and to Chris Gandy for organising the event. The second event of the circuit is at Brightlingsea on 27/28 April.