It was a pleasant evening for the penultimate race of the summer season at Saltash Sailing Club on Thursday with a light (force I-2) southerly wind

The start was against the last of an incoming tide, down river to Lynher. First off the IRC line was Firestorm (Paul Radgick) but Confucius (Dave Oliver) and Shara Of York (Peter Noakes) were both over and had to re-cross. First off the line in the PYA race was E +Visa and Rough Diamond (Dave Moore) made the best start in PYB. After Lynher the course for IRC and PYA was Hamoaze, Ernesettle and Brunel Green and for PYB it was just Ernesettle and Brunel Green.

After the first round of the course, the IRC course was changed to Lynher, Ernesettle, Brunel Green and the boats were sent for a second round. For the PY boats however, the race was finished after the first round.

During the second round Firestorm and Growler were so far ahead of the rest of the fleet that they were the only two boats to rnake it round Lynher before the wind dropped. This left the rest of the IRC fleet to battle against an outgoing tide with very little wind to help them Eventually they all had to admit defeat although some including Red October, this week helmed by Evie Oliver with an all-girl crew, struggled on optimistically for a good long while.

In the IRC race therefore, only Growler and Firestorm finished, with Firestorm taking line honours and winning on corrected time. Line honours in the PYA race were awarded to Mr Shifter (Marcus Anderson) closely followed by Chancer (Martin Watts) with Hello (Gerry Smith) some six minutes behind.

On corrected time the order was slightly different with Chancer winning from Mr Shifter in second and Hello in third. This result is however subject to protest about an incident at Ernesettle buoy between Chancer and Hydrodjinn (Frank Ellwood) in IRC. Rough Diamond produced their usual storrning performance taking line honours and winning on corrected time in PYB.

Second place went to Spellbound (John Hearl) and third to Flasher (Tony Woodhouse). The only other boat in PYB to finish was Nein Nein Fraulein (Paul Ormsby).

Results - IRC A+B - Firestorm Too (Paul Radgick), Growler (Neville Davenport). PYA - Chancer (Martin Watts), Mr Shifter (Marcus Anderson), Hello (Gerry Smith). PYB - Rough Diamond (Dave Moore), Spellbound (John Hearl), Flasher (Tony Woodhouse).

Following two abandoned races due to a complete lack of wind Sat Sept cup race in Looe Bay fared better although the best conditions were reserved for the third and final rounds. Closest race was in the Redwing Fleet where Commodore Brian Carvey produced his best race of the year covering every move made by leader Bud Coote only to lose by seconds on the line.

Results - Mirrors - 1, John Crabb and Jamie Jaycock; 2, Philip Godbolt and Christian Walker; 3, Sam Haines and Peta Coote. Redwings - Bud Coote and Dave Darlington; Brian Carvey and Dick Carlos; Derek Hocking and Mark D elf. Enterprise - Steve Sargent and Sandi Turner; Graham Sargent and Peter Southern. Laser - Gareth Shaw; David Jackman; Daniel Margetts.