SUNDAY was a perfect day for sailing for Eve-sham club members who enjoyed the bright sunshine and a good up river wind.

However, as the day went on the wind strengthened and gave all the participants a testing time.

The first handicap race saw John O'Brian in his Mirror take the lead, hotly pursued by Roger Middleton (Comet) and John Pickford (Moth).

The latter pair soon took charge and the first lap was sailed with the order unchanged and the remainder of the fleet chasing hard.

A mistake by Middleton allowed Pickford into a brief lead that was ended in a spectacular capsize near the weir as the wind rose in speed and the gusts began to give all competitors problems.

Positions now changed with Roy Timmins (Stre-aker) coming into the fray after a slow start to take the lead from Middleton with Steve Calcutt closing in on the leading trio.

More capsizes again changed the positions of the contenders, but the steady sailing of Timmins took him to the line first followed by Middleton with O'Brian claiming a well deserved third place.

The second race was a pursuit that saw O'Brian lead off the line and managing to sail a whole lap before the next boats in the running order got under way.

Clive Edwardes (Enterprise ) retired from the race 15 seconds before his start time after shipping in water and getting swamped following a particularly strong gust.

More capsizes followed for Pickford and Calcutt as they tried to close down the leader and Timmins who was positively flying on the down wind leg of the course, O'Brian held on to his lead and was first as the hour-long race ended with Tim-mins in second and a rather wet Pickford third.