Falats enjoy flying start at Gorleston

David HannantSunday's fine weather brought sailors and non-sailors down to Gorleston with the beaches and promenade full to the brim. Fortunately for the sailors the forecasted light winds were replaced by a force 3-4 SSE'erly wind making for a great day's sailing.David Hannant

Sunday's fine weather brought sailors and non-sailors down to Gorleston with the beaches and promenade full to the brim.

Fortunately for the sailors the forecasted light winds were replaced by a force 3-4 SSE'erly wind making for a great day's sailing. Veronica and Ben Falat dominated the morning races in their Fireball, winning both races although in the second race David Holmes and Steve Knight in a Hobie Tiger had pulled out a huge lead, lapping all the dinghies at least twice and were only a few seconds behind on corrected time. Phil Highfield and Tamsin Butcher in an RS500 proved consistent, finishing third in both races.

After lunch, race three saw a close finish, with the first three dinghies finishing within a minute, Highfield and Butcher taking the win on corrected time and Martin Brown and Di Holmes in a RS400 second.

In the final race of the day the choice of inshore or offshore proved to be critical. Brown and Holmes choose offshore and despite the stronger tide the wind strength was greater and they crossed the line several minutes ahead of Tom Carr and Richard Sawyer. Those who went inshore to get out of the tide suffered in the light shifty winds.

The sun was also shining brightly at Oulton Broad but unfortunately the forecast light wind persisted making a lot of the racing a matter of luck.

Nick Barratt won the first Fast Handicap race both on the water and on handicap, beating Eric Pearce in his Oulton Rater and Alan Cone's Laser.

Phil Cooper did well in the Waveney class, pulling through into the lead on the first round and staying there to the end of the shortened course as he beat Jack Pickering and Phil Large. Alan Cone added another first to an already impressive list in the Lasers, beating Andy Bedwell and John Buckenham.

Conditions were also ideal at Lowestoft for the Squib Open for the Martello Trophy but there were only five entries. David Gooch, sailing Denise Sinclair's Squib, with Denise as crew, won the first two races and therefore the Trophy, beating Bryan and Jenny Riley both times with Owen Delany not far behind in third place.

Owen turned the tables in the third race pushing Gooch and Riley down a place each, but it was too late to change the winner although it did move Owen up to second overall.