The winter series on Oulton Broad came to an end last Sunday with a beautiful sailing day which would be very welcome for the forthcoming summer series.

The first Fast Handicap race was led by the Riverboat until gear problems forced a retirement, which left Duncan Madin in the lead followed by Ben Falat, and they kept their places on handicap. Veronica Falat moved up from 10th to third and only missed second place by a few seconds. Overall the same three boats finished in the same order.

David Gooch had already won the Squib series so he changed ends with his regular crew, Gilly Foulds, but this did not change the result as she moved up to first at the last mark to win from Richard Sullivan and Richard Dell. Second and third overall were Jim Tubby and Bryan Riley, who tied on 18 points.

The second Fast Handicap was won on the water by the Riverboat sailed by Jamie Freeman by about a minute and a half, but this was nowhere near enough to save his time over Ben Falat who moved up to first, with David Frary taking third place in his Finn. Overall, Falat won, with Frary second and Duncan Madin third.

Veronica Falat change boats to sail in the Laser class which she won from Alan Cone, who picked up places but could not make it to the front, with Andy Bedwell taking third. Overall, Simon Marfleet won by just one point from Veronica with Jonathon Jones third.

David Gooch had also won the second Squib series before the race started so he stayed ashore to leave Jim Tubby and Richard Parker to have a good win from Richard Sullivan and Sue Harper who had had the misfortune to run aground, sailing too close to the bank while in the lead. That dropped him to second with John Lockwood and Helen Taylor third.

Overall, Bryan and Jenny Riley took second place, in spite of missing the last eight weeks of the season by two points from Jim Tubby.