Evesham

Sailing Club

FOLLOWING several weeks of high river levels the Avon was back to near normal conditions for Easter Sunday, but the strong blustery wind ensured that mistakes would be very quickly punished by the out of practice competitors.

Ian Haywood, who was holding his concentration throughout the afternoon and obviously enjoying the conditions, won both races, but he was chased hard all the way.

In the first race he was quickly into his stride.

He held onto the lead on the long initial leg to round the bouy first, took advantage of a mighty blow and was well away before the rest of the field knew what was happening.

Middleton paid the penalty for a lack of concentration when he was tipped into the river and eventually had to retire.

Everybody else could only chase hard, but it was Haywood first, Pickford doing well in his new boat second and Edwards third.

The second race saw the same four fighting it out for the front places with the remainder of the club concentrating on finishing in a dry state.

It was Edwards quickly into his stride, but Middleton having dried out crept his way through into the lead and looked as if he was going to hold out.

With Edwards having a spectacular capsize for all to see Haywood made use of the distraction to sail through and take the lead and claim his second first place of the day with the frustrated Middleton second and the hard working Pickford third after some pretty exciting sailing.