After rain on the previous night Saturday dawned with clear skies and a variable wind from the south-west up to Force 2 for the first race of the RYA East Zone Championship at Grafham. The Splash fleet was sharing a course with the Lasers and the mixed handicap fleet.

David Jessop led at the first mark in race one followed by James Large, Andrew Jarvis and Adam Barker. These positions changed during the course of the next two laps with Andrew Jarvis winning by about 100 metres from David Jessop followed by James Large.

In a dying breeze Matt Chettleburgh made a perfect port start in race two cutting across the bows of six boats. However, at the windward mark on the second lap James Large had taken the lead, closely followed by David Jessop and Hannah Young. The wind stayed fluky and by the finish James was the only one who had successfully kept his lead, followed by George Watson and Andrew Jarvis.

Because of the light conditions only one race was held after lunch, on a different course to account for the wind shift to the north-west. Andy Jarvis had a good start at the starboard end and held his lead to the first mark. At the end of the first lap Andrew Jarvis crossed the line followed by Tom Marfleet and Philippa Girling. Positions changed again and at the end of this race Tom Marfleet lead from Andrew Jarvis and James Large, Hannah Young not crossing the line and as a result not finishing.

There were similar conditions on the second day of sailing with the wind from the east but varying from Force 0-3, with big windshifts occurring throughout the day. James Large made a good start in the first race followed closely by Andy Jarvis, at the end of the second lap James Large led from David Jessop and Charlotte Hadden, and held his lead with no change in the first three places.

The second race was closely contested with Tim Frary winning from his elder brother Jonathan and Matt Chettleburgh managing to pull up to third. The last race was fought all the way between Hannah Young, James Large, Jonathan Frary and David Jessop with Hannah holding the lead until the last lap, when James took the lead, followed by Hannah and Jonathan, David Jessop hitting two major windshifts which dropped him to eighth.

Overall Results

1st James Large

2nd Andrew Jarvis

3rd David Jessop

4th Tom Marfleet

5th Adam Barker