Superb RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series at the WPNSA

James Peters and Ed Fitzgerald at ISAF Sailing World Cup, Miami © Richard Langdon / British Sailing Team

Sailors revelled in glorious conditions this weekend (12-13 April) as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy held the second instalment of the RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series.

With 8-12 knots and superb sunshine across the two days of racing, the annual Spring Series event witnessed some impressive racing across the five Olympic and three Paralympic classes inside Portland Harbour.

2013 Spring Series Champions and British Sailing Team pairing James Peters and Ed Fitzgerald cruised to an emphatic victory in the 49er class.

They sealed nine race wins from the ten race series and finished a remarkable 13 points in front of second place Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten, while Vikki Payne and Steph Orton were top of the 49erFX event.

"We are really happy with the victory this weekend and our performance on the water. It was a great weekend for sailing and was a great opportunity to race against other members of the squad in a competitive environment," said Peters.

"We had some really nice conditions to compete, especially today [Sunday 13 April] when the wind filled in from the West we had three races in what were glamour conditions.

"The Spring Series events are great – it's a fantastic opportunity for us to get in some competitive racing and also for the younger guys on the squad to really try and excel themselves and qualify for a number of grants for the summer events. It's also nice for us as a team to remember how to win events as you can go to international regattas and spend a lot of time finishing mid fleet, so to come here and win is quite important and obviously a great feeling," explained the 49er helm from Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Tom Squires also had an extraordinary day out on the water in the RS:X windsurfing event, sealing six race wins from the seven completed to take the weekend victory ahead of Connor Bainbridge in second and Ali Masters in third. Noelle Finch took event honours in the RS:X 8.5 event by six points over Sebastian Round in second. Cameron Coghill finished third.

In the 15 strong heavyweight Finn fleet, Peter McCoy came out on top with an imposing five race wins across the course of the weekend. James Hadden was hot on his heels to round his event off in second while Ben Cornish sealed the third step on the podium.

In the Paralympic events, Megan Pascoe stole the show in the 2.4mR class, taking a clean sweep of race wins to cement her position at the top of the leaderboard after the nine race Series. Jonathon Currell finished 13 points behind Pascoe in second with Ian Stowe claiming third.

Alex Hovden and Katie Tomsett took event honours in the SKUD event with Simon Barter, Alistair Barter and Ed Suckling putting in an impressive performance in the Sonar to finish first.

For the full list of results click here.

The RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series finale will be hosted by Hayling Island Sailing Club on the 3-4 May - entries will be taken at registration.

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