UPPER Tamar Lake Sailing Club races Sunday April 12

a.m: Equinoctial 1

At 11.30 am clouds mirrored in the lake with two small areas of broken water. There was talk of course shortening, but by start time there was wind on the water for the whole lake. Ten boats set off three of which had crews.

Lap 1. Bob Sampson, who arrived in his Morgan, swapped it for a Laser and just pipped Jane Anderson to the end of the first lap.

Lap 2. Bob Sampson was still holding Jane Anderson at bay, approaching the new luxurious club house conurbation. Jane just managed to overtake Bob metres before the line but the battle continues ... Neil and Nicky in the Wayfarer were safely in third position. Jane Chadney had traded positions with Roger Heasman for fourth whilst opening up a gap on John Savage in the Solo.

Roger capsized just after lap 2 ended and was then overhauled by John Savage but managed to stay just ahead of Mike Ford and John Duncalf in the Wanderer.

Lap 3. Bob lost first position to Jane Anderson and also dropped behind Neil and Nicky. However, in full view of the grandstand crowd he stole back the position from Neil and Nicky. Jane Chadney was now out on her own in fourth, whilst fifth, sixth and seventh were being hotly contested between John Savage, Mike Ford and Roger Heasman.

Lap 4. Jane Anderson led the field home by about two minutes and was followed in, by a fight to the line between Neil with crew Nicky and Bob.

Handicap result: 1st, Jane Anderson Laser; 2nd, Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett Wayfarer; 3rd, Bob Sampson Laser; 4th, Jane Chadney Laser; 5th, John Buckett Otter; 6th, Mike Ford and John Duncalf Wanderer; 7th, John Savage Solo; 8th, Roger Heasman Laser; 9th, Toby Tobias and Vicky Duncalf Bosun. Retired: Stephanie Heasman Topper.

p.m: Equinoctial 6

Neil Wallace was not in such a flap in the afternoon, having rushed home and collected his battens, missing for the morning race.

Before and at the start the whole fleet was becalmed. One minute later a breeze sprang up from the North West to put smiles on everyone's faces!

Bob and Roger were first away with Neil and Nicky following but slightly to windward and heading for the Cornish bank. Jane Anderson tacked away on a wind shift and headed straight up the lake. (The art was catching the breeze the moment it came!) The wind then suddenly rose to become quite brisk.

At the end of the first lap Jane Anderson had cemented her lead with Bob Sampson and Jane Chadney trying to catch her. Jane Chadney had started right at the back of the fleet but wiggled her way up through, taking good advantage of the wind shifts.

The gusts increased enabling John and Nicky to move the Wayfarer up into third place. John Buckett and Toby were having a ding-dong further back with Toby trying to get the larger Bosun to windward of John's Otter. John then tried luffing Toby but to no good effect. Meanwhile, Mike Ford was having a lonely last ever race in his Wanderer and having to shed wind to try to keep the boat flat. Simon Veal managed to pass Jane Chadney but should really have known better as Jane re-passed him on the last lap and left him for dead.

Jane Anderson took line and handicap honours.

Handicap result: 1st, Jane Anderson Laser; 2nd, Bob Sampson Laser; 3rd, Neil Wallace and Nicky Buckett Wayfarer; 4th, John Buckett Otter; 5th, Jane Chadney Laser; 6th, Simon Veal Laser; 7th, Roger Heasman Laser; 8th, Toby Tobias Bosun; 9th, Mike Ford Wanderer; 10th, John Savage Solo.