A decent F4-5 blowing from the west meant more chop than expected for a seafronts race, following (or attempting to follow) the traditional course upwind around Fairway to the "Castle" channel marker (just off Southsea Castle), downwind all the way to West Pole just off Chichester Harbour entrance, then upwind again around Fairway back to the club finish.

The long upwind slogs against short period chop were uncomfortable for some but downwind for the entire length of Southsea and Hayling seafronts was a blast for the spinnaker boats.

F4-5 forecast cross offshore (but mostly blowing straight up the solent from the west) and low-tide presented a good opportunity to run a 3 forts race following the traditional course of Horse Sand to starboard, Spitbank to port, No Man's Land to port, then passing Horse Sand to port on the return to the club finish line. We tend to think of this as a big race but even with limited chances to fly the kite, Richard and Charlie (F18) completed the race in just over 1 hour and 6 minutes.

Another memorable race, this time in the harbour with a blustery and shifting WNW F4-5 providing a challenging sail. The course was set for 2 laps of NW Sinah and Bridge channel marks with the usual club start/finish. Technically, 4 boats were out although in practice 3 boats raced, with Ian and Amanda happy to cruise on their sensibly reefed Pacific. Kieron and Brent on a club SL16 were blasting along and would have finished well if they'd sailed the right course while Dave gave a masterclass in singe-handing a club Dart 16 in the testing conditions.

A glorious warm, sunny, breezy day. The course was set for 3 anticlockwise laps of Fairway, Outer, Inner with a final port turn around Fairway. Conditions were pretty good with a steadily building F4-5 S veering SW, although it was heavy going at times on the upwind leg from Inner to Fairway. Three laps was hard-work but satisfying and the race time was within our usual target or 1.5 to 2 hours. Despite a slow start dealing with technical issues, Richard and Justin made short work moving up through the fleet and beating the other 2 F18s convincingly.

A good year for the Island Cup! A great turnout of 11 boats enjoyed a reasonably warm NE F4-5. The course was set for an anti-clockwise first leg along Hayling seafront around Fairway and West Pole and up Chichester Harbour to the bridge.

Paul and Charlie (Dart 18) got the best start but the downwind speed of the spinnaker boats helped them get to the turn around Fairway first and leave the flood tide in the channel holding the rest of the fleet back.

Congratulations to Steve and Jennie who won the first race of the season. A pursuit race around marks in Langstone Harbour proved tricky for all with the tide and a shifting breeze helping and hindering in equal measure. Richard and Dave enjoyed an impressive start on the club SL16 only to find themselves becalmed at the start of their second lap. The marks were hard to spot from opposite sides of the harbour which was a particular challenge for Fen and Adrian on a club Dart 16. The sun shone for a bit and the breeze was at times half-decent. Not a bad start to the year.