while Reckless (Greg Vasic) and Temptation (Claude Guay) won class three and the cruising class during Sunday's Not So Long Distance Race held by the Bermuda Offshore Cruising Association.

Despite several of the BOCA fleet being damaged by Hurricane Felix, 14 boats made the starting line, boosted by a strong showing of seven boats in the cruising class. Two races were held in the Great Sound with the 12 nautical mile course utilised for the first race.

The race started in Hamilton Harbour and used the existing marks in the Great Sound before finishing off at Hunts Island near Riddell's Bay. A northerly wind of around 12-15 knots, gusting to 18 in the first race and short legs between the marks, kept the crews busy and provided some interesting tactical racing.

The format, which provided plenty of windward/leeward work, appeared to be popular with the participants even though the course created some confusion.

The second race was held in the afternoon and consisted of an 11 nautical mile course which started with a triangle in the Great Sound, followed by rounding a beacon marking Dagger Rocks off Darrell's Island. The boats then headed back out into the Sound and finally finished off the RBYC in Hamilton Harbour.

The wind and the extremely low spring tides provided some challenging conditions.

The next BOCA event will be the Fall Series I (PW's) race held on Sunday, October 8.

The Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club held their first One Design Regatta on Saturday, consisting of three races in the Great Sound for International One Designs, E-22, J-24 and Laser I.

In perfect conditions of 15 knot northerly breezes, racing was tight with the overall winner in each class not decided until the last race. There were, however, not many surprises as the Island's best proved victorious in this series of intense racing.

Malcolm Smith won the Laser I class with Ted Wood second, while Michael Emery won the J-24 class followed by John Thompson. Penny Simmons reigned supreme in the IOD class with Blythe Walker second while Peter Bromby was first in the E-22 class with Paul Fisher second.

Malcolm Smith