A TOTAL OF 56 Flying Fifteens were on the start line at Parkstone Yacht Club for the 57th Flying Fifteen National Championships sponsored by Cobb's Quay Marina.

With westerly winds of 10 -12 knots, race officer Bryan Drake got the fleet underway for the first race after only one general recall, caused by a 150-degree windshift.

Coming from the centre of the line and heading inshore, Andy Osman, crewed by his son Anthony, were clearly ahead at the windward mark and soon got their kite up to lead the fleet for the first lap.

Behind them Charles Apthorp of Hayling Island Sailing Club rose from ninth place to move into second by splitting tacks and going to port up the second beat.

Apthorp moved into second place hotly pursued by Alan Bax and Steve Goacher.

Gradually the following hot-shots closed down the Osman challenge so that at the line Alan Bax from Hayling Island crossed ahead of Steve Goacher only to be disqualified for a Black Flag infringement.

This left Goacher first, Javier Chacartequi second and Apthorp third.

In the Classic Flying Fifteen Fleet. Mike Fleet led from start to finish.

The second day of the championships was characterised by light, variable, cyclonic winds moving from south, south east to north west.

After a two-hour postponement, the fleet underway and at the first mark Goacher, crewed by Phil Evans, led from Greg Wells and James Grant from Hayling Island with Mike Hart and Tim Hall from Port Dinorwic in close contention.

Behind them places were constantly changing in the light fickle winds.

At the finish Goacher was a clear winner from Wells and Grant with Simon Kneller and Dave Lucas from Grafham Water in third place.

Dovestone's Dave McKee, crewed by Chris Hewkin, worked their way up from 14th place at the windward mark to take fourth place with Hart and Hall fifth.

The first Silver Fleet boat was Nick and Lucy Oliver from Royal Torbay with Sean and Peter McKenna not far behind.

In the Classic Fleet, Keith Jamieson and Maf Smith were clear winners having worked their way through to overtake the 10th boat in the earlier starting open fleet.

There was thick fog and no wind, a race officer's worst nightmare, for day three of the championships. However, after a two-hour postponement, the fog cleared and a fresh southerly 10-14 knot breeze filled in.

Two races were sailed and in the first James Flower and crew Steve Tyrrell led the fleet to the windward mark with championship leader Goacher following closely behind.

Behind them, Jeremy Davy was fighting a close battle with Wells and Osman.

At the finish Goacher and Evans pulled through to take the gun from Flower and Tyrrell with Jeremy Davy and Simon Childs in third place followed by Wells then the Osmans.

The wind held for the second race of the day, at the first mark Hart and Hall showed their form with a clear lead and nobody was to get past them.

In the Classic Fleet, Jeremy Arnold crewed by David Brown of Notts County SC, made their mark by claiming two first places to give them the overall lead.

The fourth day bought a brisk north-westerly 15-20 knot breeze that allowed the race officer provide two good races.

Goacher stamped his mark firmly on the championships by leading the first race from start to finish and gaining his fourth win of the series.

In the second race of the day, the Osmans led the fleet to the first mark only to be caught out by windshift and touch the mark on rounding. This let Bax, crewed by Tim Rumfitt, take the lead.

Gradually they were overhauled by Justin Warples, sailing with Ian Stowe, who went on to win his first ever championship race with Bax second, followed by Hart and Hall.

Two races were scheduled for the fifth day and with a light breeze to start with and a fresher breeze to follow the race officer was in no doubt that both races would be sailed.

With seconds to go before the start of race seven, Wells found an opening at the committee boat end of the start line. Unchallenged, he sailed into the free space, tacked and was away to establish and hold a clear lead.

As the wind shifted, then faded, Wells and Grant took first place to move them into a certain third place overall for the championships and in contention for second place.

In a freshening breeze, race eight started with a general recall. This was followed by two further recalls against a black flag that resulted in eight competitors taking an early shower.

Hot off the start line were championship leaders Goacher and Evans, but they were overtaken up the first beat by Hart and Hall who went on to win the race followed by Javier Chacartegui and Joaquin Cobarro.

Goacher finished in third place with his championship points looking certain.

Hart and Hall were in a good position to take second overall, but needed to watch the Wells/Grant partnership in the final race in which a fresh force 5 westerly provided a fine finish to a first class week.

With only one race scheduled for the final day, there were still places to be fought for and the competitors were as eager as ever.

Hot off the starting line were Jeremy Davy sailing with Simon Childs from Northampton SC.

They led to the windward mark and made the most of the breeze on the off-wind legs.

Behind them Apthorp, crewed by David Richards, worked their way through the fleet from fifth place at the windward mark to finish within half-a-boat length of Davy and Childs.

In third place were Hart and Hall from Port Dinorwic SC, who had already secured second place for the championship behind the outstanding leading sailors of the series Steve Goacher and Phil Evans from Royal Windermere Yacht Club.

Third overall were Greg Wells and David Grant from Hayling Island SC with Charles Apthorp in forth place.

The Silver Fleet, for boats numbered 3400 and below, was won by Brian McKee and Ian Smyth from Strangford Lough YC.

In the Classic Fleet Jeremy Arnold and David Brown of Notts County SC had an outstanding series scoring six first places and a second.

The first Parkstone YC boat was helmed by Andy Osman. He and son Anthony won the prize for the first newcomer to a championship.

Lilliput Sailing Club's annual regatta is to be held over the weekend of September 3 and 4.

There will be dinghy racing for PY handicap classes and a GP14 Open (Saturday only) in the top triangle area of Poole Harbour and four cruiser classes racing in Poole Bay.

New this year, are the Jaguar 21 and the Gentlemen's classes.

The Jaguar 21 is a popular class, with its lifting keel well suited to Poole, and any entrant without a current PHHS handicap can get one from LSC by providing details of sail sizes.

In an effort to encourage more people on the water, the Gentlemen's class is open for any type of sailing cruiser to be sailed without using spinnaker on a separate course to the more racy yachts. All entrants will be awarded a starting handicap for the first race and after each race all handicaps will be adjusted based on performance -making it possible for any boat to achieve a good result.

Dinghy and Cruiser classes will have three races on Saturday and two on Sunday with the first four races counting towards the regatta series and the last race being for the Lions Trophy.

Further details, notice of race, sailing instructions and entry forms can be obtained from Lilliput Sailing Club They can aslo be downloaded from the club's website www.lilliputsc.org.uk

More than 70 sailors competed in Mudeford Sailing Club's annual seven-day Mudeford Week regatta.

The sailing started with a victory for Commodore Ali Reeves in her new Laser 2000.

In the main fleet, Highcliffe SC Laser sailor Phil Sowden extended a huge lead to win the Anchor Trophy while the Weekend Handicap Series was won by Mike and Lindsay Moore in their Topper Magno with Oxford SC's Angus Nicholson winning the Laser event for the third year running.

With the weekend sailors back at work, Mudeford's own Malcom Musgrave, crewed by daughter Pilvi, won the Handicap Fleet in an elderly but very quick Gull, followed by Highcliffe's Charmaine Barnett in a Mirror.

The Fast Fleet was won by 72-year-old Mike Stagg sailing a full-rig Laser. He was followed by Jane Challener in a Radial and Selina Ramm from Oxford in another Laser.

The junior winner was Ariella Thompson in an Optimist and the Topper winner was Danielle Dominey.

Main results, Weekend Series Slow Fleet: 1 Charmaine Barnett (Mirror), 2 Laurie Dutton (Heron), 3 Ariella Thompson (Optimist). Crewed Fleet: 1 Mike & Lindsay Moore (Magno), 2 Martin & Jackie Hiscock (Comet Duo), 3 Ali & Terry Reeves (Laser 2000). Fast Fleet: 1 Angus Nicholson, 2 Dave Ellins, 3 John Morgan (all Lasers).

Week Series - Slow Fleet: 1 Charmaine Barnett, 2 Ed Thomas (Optimist), 3 Tom Bouch (Topper). Crewed Fleet: 1 Malcolm & Pilvi Musgrave (Gull), 2 John Snelling & Evelyn Hurst (Otter), 3 Martin & Jackie Hiscock. Fast Fleet: 1 Mike Stagg (Laser), 2 Jane Challener (Radial), 3 Selina Ramm (Laser).

Around the Clubs information will appear in Saturday's Daily Echo.