THERE were no complaints about the wall-to-wall sunshine over the weekend, but wind conditions on The Solent made for challenges for sailors on both sides of the Isle of Wight.

                                           BEMBRIDGE SAILING CLUB

On Saturday, in a persistent Force 4 breeze, four Redwings opted for two races — rounding St Helens Fort on each round.

Starting close to the harbour, and after an excellent beat to Janson, Mike Toogood (Tara) led the way by a healthy margin.

After a course change, Toogood had a bit of a brainstorm and 'overstood' on the beat to Britten. 

This put both Rory Morrison, in Paroquet, in first, and Alex Andreae jr (Prawn) ahead and, despite Toogood's best efforts, he was unable to catch them.

The second race was more ambitious. After a collision at the start between Tara and Quintessence, the beat to Ruthven provided some great sailing and Paroquet was first to round about a minute ahead of Prawn. 

There was little the others could do to stop Morrison making it two wins, with Prawn second again.

Sunday was again sunny, but with a reduced Force 3 breeze, that made for a slightly smoother sea for the 11 One-Designs, who had three short races.

With only two Redwings out racing, both with young helms, there was just the one race.
The One-Designs started an hour earlier than the Redwings. 

Race 1 saw No.9 flying her spinnaker to good effect to win, with No.2 second. 

The second race was won by No.10, while the third and final race, with a testing first leg to Fitzwilliam and a long run to the finish at Pepe, was handled best by Russ Fowler and Simon Alloccaover (No.1) to win the bottle of wine. 

In the other race, Will Toogood, helming Tara in champagne conditions, finished eight minutes ahead of Prawn.

                                                GURNARD SAILING CLUB
THERE were similar conditions for longer courses, with the Cats and medium handicap venturing out as far as East Lepe for the Sunday Spring Series. 

The tricky tidal conditions inshore brought some very close tactical racing, especially in the fast and medium fleets. 

As the tide turned, the beats became challenging, so the Tera course was shortened, which gave Rafe Bradley the advantage and a win. 

Tom Yates, in his 4.7, won the slow fleet event after his two challengers both gave up on the final beat. 

The Fast fleet win went to Mark Harrison in his RS100, the medium to Paul Bowen (Aero 7) and the Martin Scott (Shadows). 

Some 29 boats were on the water for the final race of Gurnard's Spring Wednesday Series last week.  

In bright sunshine and choppy conditions around the bay's edge, four boats competed in the Catamaran class, with the winner, Martin Scott, leading from the start.

The Fast Handicap fleet had an eventful race, with several retirements.  

Thomas Leather and Maeve Hall's RS500 won on corrected time, while Mark Reynolds's ILCA7 won the Medium Handicap class.

The Slow Handicap fleet was won by Steve Kimpton's Pico.