Twelve river cruisers took part in the Norfolk Punt Club cruiser open at the weekend in mixed weather conditions. Saturday’s strong northerly winds made for strenuous sailing on the mainly windward-leeward course with reefs de-rigeur.

Mike Barnes sailing Moonshadow took an early lead in the first race closely pursued by Whisper (Chris Pank), Vagabond (Mike Collins) and Beth (Glynn Howarth), but all their efforts were eventually thwarted by Matt Ellis in Bluejacket on handicap, Whisper and Vagabond taking 2^nd and 3^rd.

The second race saw Whisper and Beth both put themselves out of the running by being over at the start and there was a great tussle amongst the middle of the fleet throughout with several boats finishing within a few seconds. However, the result was only sealed by the last boat to finish, Geoff and Alex Heaton taking a convincing win in Pandora II,( although they refused to believe it at first), from Bluejacket and Amaryllis (Paul Stevens).

Sunday provided a more moderate south-westerly which seemed to be to Vagabond’s liking as she took the first race ahead of Whisper and Moonshadow with Bluejacket getting a crucial fourth. The last race saw Moonshadow finally get her break and she pulled out a lead which eventually extended to over six minutes on the water and a win on handicap. Joy, sailed by Philip Davies also enjoyed the reaching conditions to come in second with Vagabond third.

After discards, Bluejacket and Vagabond were left on equal points, a tie which broke in Bluejacket’s favour. This made her the winner of both the White Horse trophy for first overall and the Barton Broad Challenge trophy for the slow handicap, the Achievement trophy for fast handicap going to Whisper.

White Horse Tropy: 1 Bluejacket, M. Ellis, 2 Vagabond, M. Collins, 3 Whisper, C. Pank. Achievement Trophy: 1 Whisper, 2 Moonshadow, M. Barnes, 3 Breeze, C. Chettleburgh. Barton Broad Challenge Trophy: 1 Bluejacket, 2 Vagabond, 3 Pandora II, G. Heaton.