Little wind and a strong tide tested the Mylor Fleet on the fourth Penrose Sails series race on Friday.

Six boats came to the line in Q starting on starboard tack. The key to the race was when to tack to port to the Falmouth shore following the receding clouds and wind.

Topsy (Tony O'Hanlon) was first to round Pennarow Mark but was overtaken by both Tinuviel (Andy and Sarah Hayes) and Challonnaise (Stephen Pendray) on the drift to the finish at St Just buoy. Tinuviel crossed the line first to win overall.

Five Shrimpers entered Friday evening's race expecting a light northerly wind but as matters turned out the fleet was met with a light southerly wind that fell away to virtually nothing as the evening progressed.

Added to this was the flood tide which made weathering the Penarrow mark frustratingly difficult.

Dawn of Polruan made the most of these difficulties picking an easterly course and perhaps benefiting from an eddy as the flood tide slackened towards high water and finished the race at St. Just - the only boat to complete the race.

Sterren Vor (Miles Pinchin) and Carla Louise (Clive Henderson) also weathered Penarrow but were out of time before the finish. The other two boats retired. Congratulations go to Dawn of Polruan (Steve Przybylski). 

For W Class the light winds and strong running tide made this a challenging race right from the start. As soon as the boats had crossed the line they had a choice of continuing on the starboard tack seeking clear stronger wind or tacking away to get out of the tide.

Neither tack in the end gave a great advantage as the whole fleet arrived at the windward mark bunched together, on starboard tack.

However, this orderly bunch of boats was disrupted as they approached the mark by one boat from another fleet, on port tack, pushing into the pack causing avoiding actions, resulting in one boat hitting the mark.

To add to the general chaos, the wind dropped to a zephyr on the next leg causing most of E fleet to virtually stop allowing W fleet to catch and overtake the heavier boats.

The race was shortened at the Pascoe’s Boatyard mark with the boats of the two fleets bunched together, within feet of each other, being taken by the tide and a little wind over the line. Wizard of Clee finished first, with Mary Boon in second and Tomaray in third.

E Class also found the conditions very frustrating, but in a very close finish Cool Kids was first with Growling Cougar in second and Nightowler in third.

The second of the of the Skinners Brewery Sunday pursuit series enjoyed a pleasant sea breeze on a glorious day. The winner was Wizard of Clee (Tony Hardman) with The Cool Kids (Tim Rowley) second, beating Rococo (Clive Hoyle) into third place by one second. Dawn of Polruan (Steve Przybylski) came first in Class H.