Island Barn welcomed visitors 14 visitors from 8 different clubs complementing the 11 home sailors for the annual Open Meeting in the Thames Valley circuit.

The race officer set a square course trying hard to keep the alignment in a medium south westerly that had a surprising number of shifts but enough strength for the solos to plane down some quite shy reaches.. The first race saw a port end bias that caught a few boats out but the fleet got away on the first attempt with initial leader Mike Hobin (4927) from Oxford doggedly pursued by local sailor Gareth Griffiths (4859) and Vanda Jowett (4620) from Littleton. By the third lap Gareth had slipped through on the run and the first three then kept positions with Daniel Goodman (4735) coming through to take forth.

After lunch races two and three were run back to back in slightly lighter winds. In race two Vanda was clear at the first mark chased by Richard Williams (5017) and Dan Goodman. As the race progressed Dan managed to squeeze past Vanda to take the win, with Mike Hobin third and Gareth fourth to give a four way tie going into the last race. This time Mike Hobin got the best first beat chased by Simon Corper (5024) and Dan Goodman. The leading positions kept changing, on lap two Dan had got the lead from Mike Hobin and Mike Wilke (4772). The shifts on the beats were clearly causing problems and it was all change again on lap three with Mike regaining the lead from Simon and Dan with Vanda getting back in the mix before a final twist saw Simon Corper get the final beat right to lead round the last lap closely followed by Mike Hobin, Dan Goodman and Mike Wilkie.

Overall results couldn't have been much tighter with one point separating the first four places. Dan Goodman from Kingsmead taking the trophy by virtue of his win in race two from Mike Hobin, with Gareth Griffiths taking third (tied on points with Vanda Jowett) by virtue of his race one win, and Mike Wilkie from Littleton took the veterans (over 60) prize.

Full results