Blue skies and a 10 knots southerly breeze greeted sailors on Friday for race four of the Dinghy Spring series, writes Norman Williams.

With four boats on the same handicap, two Breezes and two Phantoms, close racing was assured.

Both Ross Prytherick and Christian Smart hit the line at speed exactly as the starting gun went, with Ross just a whisker ahead.

By the end of lap one, he had opened up a 37 seconds lead on Paul Rendell, with Christian just four seconds astern.

Nick Berridge in his Phantom on his first sail this series, was closing fast, however, and by the end of lap two was second, with Christian just easing ahead of Paul.

This order remained the same for the next three laps, with Nick closing relentlessly on Ross.

The two boats were side by side going in to the last mark, but Ross forced Nick into fouling him, so that after he had done turns to clear his foul, he finished some 16 seconds astern, with Christian holding on to third spot.

In the series, both Ross and Christian are in equal first place with the same points, so it is all to play for in the coming races.

In the slow handicap fleet, Rachel Rendell had a comfortable win over Tom Turner.

The first race of the cruiser racing programme on Thursday looked to be a crew's nightmare, with the threat of heavy rain, and with little or no wind before the start.

However, as the marina-based boats were exiting the lock, a 10 knots south-south west breeze sprung up.

The race officers Steve Rees and Henry Lloyd sent the fleet on a challenging course down to the Esso jetty, then two triangles in the Sandy Haven/Chapel/Esso area.

Xenon led the fleet, followed by Trissie, then Witch Doctor, but Geoff Mayhew in Egomania was sailing very fast, passing Witch Doctor at certain stages.

The wind caused some concern, threatening to die away at times, but held up and swung to east/southeast. The leg back to the starting line was initially too tight for spinnakers, but at the end of the Total jetty all boats hoisted.

The handicap result overall was 1st. Egomania, 2nd. Trissie, and 3rd. Xenon.