Contender Open at Oxford Sailing Club sponsored by BDS-UK.com and Craftinsure.com

Contenders at Oxford © Grant Blake

A fleet of 15 contenders arrived at Oxford Sailing Club on Saturday morning, with sailors looking unenthusiastic due to the very light forecast. Whilst the sailors rigged up in the morning, the wind switched through 180 degrees twice! This would give an indication of some of the conditions to come.

Race one was sailed in a patchy and variable breeze, typified by upwind legs which saw half of the fleet in a hole, whilst the other half were on the trapeze. The conditions were mastered by Rodger White, sailing the oldest boat entered to victory. For races two and three, the wind filled in so that helms were trapezing upwind (just). These conditions were mastered by Ed Presley, who won both races followed closely by Graham Sexton in each.

The overnight results showed that consistency was going to be the key, as everyone was carrying a high score from the first three races. Stuart Jones was the overnight leader, despite not breaking into the top two yet.

Day two saw similar conditions, just with the wind from a different direction. There were big gains to be made on both sides of the racecourse, which was now busier due the introduction of the K6 fleet for Sunday's racing. Race four saw Stuart Jones find his speed to take the win, despite trying to sail the sausage instead of the triangle on lap three. He was followed closely by Carl Tagoe, who was starting to demonstrate how useful a bit of local knowledge can be.

Race five saw another local, Tony Brooks, going hard right up the beat to leave the fleet in his wake and take the race win, again followed by Carl Tagoe. There were a few puzzled faces before the start of race 6, because nobody knew who was leading the event, or who would win. A look at the results would have shown that any one of four sailors could have won the event in the last race.

Ed Presley flew off the start line to take his third race win of the weekend, but it was the ever consistent Carl Tagoe who took the event win with a second in the final race. Stuart Jones pipped Graham Sexton into third on countback with a sneaky manoeuvre on the last leg. Overall this was a great weekend of racing, hosted by a fantastic sailing club.

Carl Tagoe won with a flaky but consistent set of results, which didn't include a race win, whilst Ed Presley managed to win half of the races, but not the event! Next up for the contenders is Broadstairs SC 28-29th April.

Overall Results: