Seventeen skippers assembled at the Club on Saturday 12^th February to take part in the first ever Micro Magic event to take place on the Rick Pond. The PRO, Colin Trower, held his briefing sharp at 9.45am and racing commenced 15 minutes later.

            A testing course had been set to make the most of a Northerly wind blowing at between 8 and 18mph. and, with a fleet of 17 boats, the skill of each skipper to sail the most advantageous route to each buoy was fully tested. After the first 6 or 7 races, it became clear that the boats to watch were 311 (John Tushingham), 12 (Buzz Coleman), 314 (Dave Andrews), 149 (Peter Spence) and 234 (Mike Weston). Mid morning, the PRO announced a welcome short break for coffee, during which time the promised sunshine began to appear and warm up the rather chilly wind. By lunch time 11 races had been completed with only minor course adjustments needed to take account of slight changes in wind direction. Unfortunately, after Race 6 Dennis Moss (327) was forced to retire owing to a severely leaking boat. He was joined after lunch by David Mayne (337) who had transmitter problems and had to retire after Race 14.

            By the designated finishing time, 20 races had been sailed without any major incident (only one start resulted in a general recall) with skippers (largely) good naturedly acknowledging their mistakes and carrying out penalty turns where necessary. After allowing the required four discards, the leading skippers were as follows:-

1^st - John Tushingham (28pts), 2^nd - Buzz Coleman (38pts), 3^rd - Peter Spence (54pts), 4^th - Mike Weston (57pts) and 5^th - Dave Andrews (81pts).

The thanks of the Club go to Colin Trower and his race team of Laurie Bower, Terry Colson, Tom Davies and Vernon Appleton whose efficiency and hard work ensured an enjoyable and successful day’s racing.