The Flying Dutchman class made their annual trip to Lee-on-Solent for the Southern area championship this weekend to be greeted by wonderful sunshine and very little wind.

Race officer Steven Parry and his team battled with the conditions but managed to get all three scheduled races in on the Saturday ensuring that there were enough races for a regatta to count, this was just as well as the breeze failed to appear completely on Sunday.

Close racing was enjoyed by all the fleet with many place changes and the smallest mistakes proving very costly. Toby Dale and James Cole made the most of the conditions to win all three races although they were never able to relax as both Peter Doran and Richard Phillips and Vicky Parry and Ben Stirrup made strong challenges throughout the day.

The final results gave Toby and James their fourth successive Southern Areas win. Peter and Richard were second just ahead of Vicky and Ben. Fourth place went to Rosie and Neil Pye on count back from Julian Bridges and Bethan.