UPPER Tamar Lake Sailing Club races on Sunday March 15.

a.m. Equinoctial Cup 2

Only just over a week after the lake was carpeted with several inches of snow, blue skies and light breezes enticed ten sailors onto the water for the midday race.

Amongst them were a couple of new boat/helm combinations, with Adeney Pooley making a first appearance in his Graduate, as well Val Shillito making her debut in the Otter. Unfortunately, Val's race was short-lived as a rigging fault left her crippled with minimum manouvreability and she had to retire. The RS200 also had a new helm, with Liz Boyd making a long journey to try her hand at Tamar sailing.

As the midday horn sounded to start the race, however, it was soon 'business as usual' at the front of the fleet, with the three Lasers of Jane Anderson, Steve Axford and David Higgs showing the way. Behind this trio, the RS200 was in fourth place, but the winds were not really strong enough to keep the asymmetric's big gennaker filling with sufficient effect to enable the boat to sail to its handicap rating.

When Jane Anderson crossed the line she had a comfortable 30 second cushion in front of Steve Axford in second and another minute in front of David Higgs. Since Jane was racing with the smaller Laser Radial rig and her competitors in full rigs, her victory on handicap was even more assured. John Savage's Solo was next to cross the line, but the two Toppers of John and Vicki Duncalf were just a few seconds faster on handicap. Further back, Adeney Pooley guided the Graduate round to successfully complete the course on his first outing but slowed as the race progressed because he was taking in water and on coming ashore, the cause was found to be a split centreboard case.

Results: 1st, Jane Anderson (Laser Radial); 2nd, Steve Axford (Laser); 3rd, David Higgs (Laser); 4th, John Duncalf (Topper); 5th, Vicki Duncalf (Topper); 6th, John Savage (Solo); 7th, Liz Boyd and Bob Sampson (RS200); 8th, Derek Farnfield (Wanderer); 9th, Adeney Pooler (Graduate). Val Shillito (Otter) rtd

p.m. Pursuit Trophy 1

The first Pursuit race of the season started with Vicki Duncalf's Topper crossing the line promptly as first boat away. Several of the Tamar sailors seemed a bit rusty on their Pursuit starts, however; both John Savage and Bob Sampson started a minute after they got the signal for the off. In contrast, Derek Farnfield was over-eager and was across the line too soon and had to double back in order not to be disqualified. Eventually, all the fleet got away, with Jane Anderson the last off, her good results from last year's Pursuit giving a combined handicap that meant her starting a daunting 17 minutes after Vicki had started. With a mid-fleet start, it was pleasing to see Emily Veal making the step up from Toppers for her first race outing in a Laser 4.7, in which she looked comfortable.

As the minutes ticked down towards the end of the 65 minute race, John Savage had pulled out an unassailable lead and was an emphatic and popular winner.

Results: 1st, John Savage (Solo); 2nd, Steve Axford (Laser); 3rd, Vicki Duncalf (Topper); 4th, Bob Sampson and Liz Boyd (RS200); 5th, Jane Anderson (Laser); 6th, John Duncalf (Topper); 7th, David Higgs (Laser); 8th, Stephen Muller (Topper); 9th, Roger Ford (Otter); 10th, Derek Farnfield (Wanderer); 11th, Emily Veal (Laser 4.7).