SAILING: Elton opened its doors to the first day of the Snowflake Handicap to allcomers. It takes place every Sunday until the end of February.

With the first race scheduled for noon, three visitors and nine home boats made it to the start line with a fresh southerly 15mph wind greeting them.

The pace was made by the home team of Adam Savage and Paul Salmon in their RS400 asymetric, followed by the RS200 of Martin and Barbara Smith, and then single handed Phil Worth in the Phantom.

The winds lifted continually making for exciting white water sailing with a few capsizes throughout the fleet. Savage helmed to complete the win, ahead of Martin Smith and then Worth in third, with nine finishing the race in total.

The winds lifted for the second race with 11 boats starting the race in testing conditions.

It was the single hander boats who coped with the conditions best, 20mph winds with 40mph gusts pushing the competitors to their limits, with David Carpenter (Laser) and Worth sailing the conditions best.

Over the course of the 40-minute race Worth took the honours by 20 seconds from Carpenter, with Savage and Salmon in the RS400 third.

Savage and Salmon jointly hold the lead in the series with Worth after the first weekend with more boats sure to join the series.

Results Race One: 1 Adam Savage & Paul Salmon (RS400); 2 Martin Smith & Barbara Smith (RS200); 3 Phil Worth (Phantom); 4 Jonathan Woodhead & Annie Stevenson (RS200); 5 David Carpenter (Laser); 6 David Gamble (Laser); 7 G Stevenson & S Mason (RS200); 8 Steve Roberts (Topper); 9 Scott Worthington (Solo).

Race Two: 1 Phil Worth (Phantom); 2 David Carpenter (Laser); 3 Adam Savage & Paul Salmon (RS400; 4 Peter Finney (Laser); 5 G Stevenson & S Mason (RS200); 6 John Mann (Solo); 7 Scott Worthington (Solo); 8 Steve Roberts (Topper).

Week Two The second weekend saw nine entrants who were greeted by 15mph southerly winds meaning the full length of the lake would test their stamina and the upwind ability. A clear start in the first race and the laser of Peter Finney and the phantom of Phil Worth took the lead to the first mark. The fleet were tightly packed for the first two laps before Worth and Finney continued to stretch out their lead followed by Mike Seger. Further back racing was close with positions being swapped in the final legs of the race.

Race two added Scott Worthington to the fleet in his solo. The way was again shown by Worth, but the rest of the fleet were close behind. The southerly winds dropped marginally to make jybes less spectacular but more comfortable for the competitors. Seger, from a poor start, was able to move through the fleet to finish in a creditable third positon. The RS200 of Martin and Barbara Smith sailed well keeping Worth in view and won the race after the handicap calculation by the race officers.

Results Race 3: 1 Phil Worth (Phantom); 2 Peter Finney (Laser); 3 Mike Seger (Phantom); 4 Martin & Barbara Smith (RS200); 5 Ian Binns (Laser Radial); 6 David Gamble (Laser); 7 G Stephenson & S Mason (RS200); 8 John Mann (Solo); 9 Paul & Lucy Salmon (RS Feva).

Race 4: 1 Martin & Barbara Smith (RS200); 2 Phil Worth (Phantom); 3 Mike Seger (Phantom; 4th David Gamble (Laser); 5 Ian Binns (Laser Radial); 6 G Stephenson & S Mason (RS200); 7 John Mann (Solo); 8 Paul & Lucy Salmon (RS Feva); 9 Steve Roberts (Topper); 10 Scott Worthington (Solo).