The force three and glorious winter sunshine was short lived on the opening day of the Gul RS400 Winter Championship at Bristol Corinthian YC on February 10/11. A smaller than expected turn out of 21 boats started race one in a dying breeze. Local sailors Tom Halhead and Chris Bishop (1240) won, passing Paul and Michael Allen (1155) on the second run and disappearing over the horizon. Ian Robson and Sandy Johnson (1263) started well with a third, their best result of the weekend. As the breeze dropped, the clouds settled down on top of the fleet and after a short delay racing got under way in a light and very wet force two. Nick Lowe and Jude Pryde (1257) set the pace around the first lap, however as the breeze shifted right they gybed late allowing the Allens through on the second to last run. John Cooper and Becci Wigley (1304), in a spanking new boat claimed third. The fleet spaced out along the long start line for race three. Starting in the middle of the line, legend Roger Gilbert sailing with Stu Jagger (1121) played the shifts up the middle of the beat to lead round the windward mark closely followed by Nick Lowe. This order continued until the second beat when Nick headed out left in search of more pressure, which he found, allowing him to cross Roger on the layline and round first. The battle continued down the run, where Roger claimed water at the last leeward mark and sailed over the line in first place. The Allens were someway behind in third with John Cooper finishing a few seconds astern in fourth. Evening entertainment consisted of Lasagne and a trip to the local Lamb in Axbridge to celebrate Pete Vincent's well deserved RYA lifetime award. Sundays forecast of big breeze looked unlikely to start with. Fortunately just as the postponement flag was raised the breeze shifted, the rain stopped and dark patches of breeze started to appear on the reservoir. National Champions Nick Craig and James Stewart (1237) joined the fleet for the day, very exciting! Race one started in a steady force five, with the port end of the line being favoured. However the breeze clocked right, giving the late starters an advantage and lots of ducking and diving as the port end starters crossed the fleet. Nick Craig eventually pulled away leaving the race on for second place. Tom Halhead capsized on the second run allowing the Allens through to claim second. However Tom was quick to get things back up the right way and was soon chasing back lost places, eventually finishing third. After a few slices of left over Lasagne, and entertainment provided by a foiling moth which never got going the fifth and final race started in a building breeze. Again Nick Craig headed out to the left of the course, tacked, crossed the fleet of port boats and disappeared over the horizon. Richard Bone and Dan Martin (1236) in a borrowed boat sailed consistently to comfortably take second place ahead of Tom Halhead in third. Rob and Liz Jones (735) finished on a high finishing fourth.