On Sunday Horning Sailing Club’s racing continued on the River Bure outside the Clubhouse, despite the unseasonable weather. Although on the whole there were very light winds, when the sun broke through and the breeze picked up it provided very pleasant conditions.
The torrential downpours over the morning and lunch did see a diminished keelboat fleet in the afternoon series, but did not stop the determination of the dinghies which, once again, saw a very strong turnout.
First fleet away were the Reedlings, and it was good to see a growing fleet, with four boats taking part, out of the eleven originally built. It was Robert Hancock sailing Siskin and Stuart Bailey in Jaws that pulled away from the remainder of the fleet in the first race to finish first and second, with Siskin leading and winning the second race, with a photo finish amongst the remaining competitors – eventually Derek Jones in Merlin taking second, just seconds ahead of the others. Kim West sailing Rebel made it two wins during the morning series, with Kevin Edwards in Rebel Maid winning the afternoon.
Geoff Stubbs sailing Tara broke away from the fleet to win the first race, ahead of Toby Fields (Tanskey) and Roger Pettit (Anaoh), a pattern repeated for the second race of the day, but this time, the fleet much closer, a little over two minutes separating all the finishers. In the afternoon, Geoff made it a hat trick with a third win. Alastair Fields was first Yare & Bure in both morning races.
In the closely contended dinghies, there were eleven Toppers sailing. In the first race, first was Anya Gittins, ahead of her sister Zia, with Jasper Richardson third. The second race saw Hamish Harmer take a win, with James Street second and Jasper third. By the afternoon Jasper had worked his way up to first for both races ahead of Anya and Zia, who took a second and third in each race respectively.
It looks to be a busy week ahead for Horning with the start of Thursday night sailing, and Club racing on the River Sunday before paddleboarding sessions begin on Monday.