Weather wise last Sunday was the best sailing day of the winter series at Oulton Broad, and there were good fleets out and some keen racing.With a south easterly wind the start line was biased, but there were still some doubts as to which end to start.

Weather wise last Sunday was the best sailing day of the winter series at Oulton Broad, and there were good fleets out and some keen racing.

With a south easterly wind the start line was biased, but there were still some doubts as to which end to start.

Richard Smith went for the pin end in the first Fast Handicap race and was almost squeezed out as the bulk of the fleet got away, with Duncan Madin just laying the first mark.

These two were soon in the first two positions, with Richard Fryer close behind. The wind was not strong enough for Madin and he dropped back as Smith with a good lead saved his time on handicap. David Frary in his new Finn was back in seventh place, but pulled up to second on handicap, just beating the leading Laser sailed by James Large.

Ian Keeley, making a welcome return to sailing a Squib, took an early lead with Sam Cole and Bryan Riley close behind. On the long run up the Broad, Bryan Riley slipped into the lead and pulled away and by the end of the round Owen Delaney had moved up to second place, leaving Keeley and Cole to fight it out for third place. Keeley looked as though he would hold on, but near the end Cole took over.

Richard Fryer was quickly into the lead in the second Fast Handicap race while Richard Smith missed the start completely being nearly two minutes late. Fryer easily finished in first place, but was beaten on handicap by David Frary's Finn, Phil Highfield and Tasmin Butcher, sailing a RS500, who had been second throughout with Duncan Madin picking up a place on handicap. Fryer missed out on third place on handicap by just four seconds while Smith made a remarkable recovery to finish third on the water.

James Large, who had been leading Laser in the first race, looked as though he would repeat this in the class race, but things went wrong on the last round and he dropped back to third as James Cully went the other way, moving up from third to win with Jonathan Jones holding second throughout.

The second Squib race was a triumph for Sam Cole, crewed by Denise Sinclair.

They took an early lead, with Owen Delaney and Mark Duffield in hot pursuit, but they steadily pulled out an enormous lead to finish with a two-minute advantage over Ian Keeley and Keir Sinclair, who had passed Delany on the second round.

There will be normal points racing on Sunday and the annual allcomers race for the Jonathan House Memorial Salver on Boxing Day.