great start to slalom season...

The 2008 JP/Pryde Series got underway today in Clacton . During registration competitors were greeted by perfect SW breeze ; Dave Thomson , race officer , did not waste precious time and started racing at 11,00 am - bang on time !
By noon we had three rounds completed , and a discard for all fleets.

In the Top Flight there was a welcome return to competition for Jamie Hawkins (GBR 96) -with 2 firsts and a third ( thanks to a plastic bag on the fin ), Jamie enjoyed his first day back after a break of 5 years.!

Alan (Mr Consistancy) Jackson posted 3 second places; whereas Xavier Ferlet had to be happy with third place overall going into lunch.

It was much closer at the top of Challenge fleet with young pretender Paul Kearns fighting off the challenge of masters Adrian Wallis and Dave "vinnie" Standing.

In the juniors Matthew Brown continues to show signs of rapid and constant improvement, 3 wins to his name , but also "mixingit" with the more mature challenge fleet.

After the break the conditions became more unsettled -wind up and down , swinging left and right.! A further 2 races for Top Flight did nothing to alter the final end of day results , despite an OCS for Jamie in race 4.
One cancelled race and one"protested" race leaves the placings, like the weather , unsettled in the challenge fleet .

Sunday dawned bright but not breezy!

Tomo set a figure 8 course and sailors put on standby. It did not look like it was going happen - until a shower early afternoon was followed by an increase in the wind, sufficient for valid racing.
Challenge fleet went first -as they were short of 2 races. Unfortunately the wind did not stay long enough for another round for Top Flight ...Racing over for the weekend.

For results and photo gallery go to "results".

Once again many thanks to Chris Lewis and Pryde Group UK ; TimSutton and Tendring Council ; Rob at Ski Surf (Colchester ) and Mark at Revolution