A SMALLER than normal field came to the start line at the Royal Cornwall Yacht Club on Tuesday for the latest Hine-Downing Summer Series race.

Local waters are much emptier at the moment because some boats are in Fowey ahead of the regatta there while others are repairing damage from the rigours of Falmouth Week.

At 5pm, the sky was clear and a bright sun was shining but a cold northerly wind was blowing down the Penryn river.

With low water at 7.20pm, there was not too much tidal movement for the starters from 6.15pm to 6.45pm. But it did mean that there was less room to manoeuvre.

Noon-Hi was moored a few metres north of the Rustler buoy and the Pin End buoy was dropped a 150m west giving an ample length for the small fleets starting.

Q fleet came to the line just before the signal and they bunched at the committee boat end.

Per Elisa legitimately luffed up Macavity, who was upwind, and they crossed the line before the signal. But in his enthusiasm, Robbie Tregear in Per Elisa followed so as the signal sounded they were both called back to start correctly.

Macavity heard the radio call and returned quickly and caught Temeraire, but Per Elisa took much longer to come back and when they finally did re-cross the line they were a long way behind and so they had to work very hard to do as well as they did.

Onboard Minx they found the brisk breeze ideally suited them and they sailed hard to cross the line second and won on handicap.

They all beat to windward for the first leg to the turning mark where they bore away and raised their spinnakers for the long run to the Old Wall, a kilometre or so south of the lighthouse, where they turned and started a long beat to the clubhouse finish.

There were only two starters in E class and they stayed close all through the race.

Chris Bell helmed Hawk and said how pleased he was to be in the bay because he knew exactly the location of the Old Wall, having been there several times in Falmouth Week so at the end of the race he had a happy crew.

In V class only three boats appeared, but they had good racing with little between the leaders before Nigel Glanville pushed away to claim victory on Ivy.

U class had seven starters and only six finishers because Wilkie had difficulty in lowering the spinnaker at the end of the downwind leg when the bow was pointing south towards France.

Finally they had to cut the halyard in order to drop the sail and then return to Mylor to try to sort out the problem.

Aurora had a good start and they held off most of the fleet until the entrance of the harbour when Deep Purple found the now fickle wind and got through to cross the line nearly a minute clear of Nitro.

RESULTS B Class: 1st Cousin Jinny - G Pearce, 2nd Rita - J Peters, 3rd Cousin Jack - P Searle.

E Class: 1st Excelle - J Fox, 2nd Hawk - C Bell.

G Class: 1st Magpie of Mylor - R Roebuck, 2nd Dragonfly - M Maguire, 3rd Katy - S Grigg.

Q Class: 1st Minx - C Choak, 2nd Macavity - J Hicks, 3rd Encore - D Cunliffe.

U Class: 1st Aurora - M Owens, 2nd Nitro - M Chamberlain/D Richards, 3rd Mary Boon - J Cruise.

V Class: 1st Ivy - N Glanville, 2nd Saucy Sally - J Lowry, 3rd Mayfly - R Stedman.

W Class: 1st Amneris - M Robson/D Layton, 2nd Zephyrus of Mylor.