Day six of the Crewsaver 60th Firefly Nationals saw racing cancelled yesterday as 30kt gusts ripped across the beach at Abersoch. The 222 sailors grabbed the opportunity to recover from the battering taken during the Sir Ralph Gore Trophy race on Wednesday through a combination of sleep, tea and shopping.

Your correspondent caught up with current points leaders Steve Tylecote and Sally Wilson from Spinnaker Club in Hampshire. With a current scoreline of four firsts and a third you’d think they’d know all there is to know about Firefly sailing but sadly for the rest of the fleet Tylecote says he’s still learning new tricks and reckons he can go even faster!

Tylecote and Wilson are sailing a 40-year-old, wooden Fairey boat named Grasshopper in which Tylecote previously won the 1995 Firefly nationals. One of the original builders of Grasshopper was Mike Brown who’s also sailing in Abersoch this week. Tylecote acquired the boat in the early 1990s and has been restoring her ever since. Between them the Tylecote/Wilson duo have individually won 39 Firefly Nationals points races over the last 12 years but they only started sailing together last year with a main aim of winning the 60th Firefly Championship.

Two races are now scheduled for today in order to complete the championship and the fleet are hoping for moderate breezes following a huge Rondar boats-sponsored night out at South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club dancing away to live band – Episode – from West Kirby.