Lightning368 Grand Prix Series at Fishers Green Sailing Club

Matt Hopkins wins the Lightning368 meeting at Fishers Green © Claire Clark

Simon Hopkins was 2nd in the Lightning368 meeting at Fishers Green © Claire Clark

With a good forecast in place for both wind and sunshine, the Lightning368 fleet set out for Fishers Green SC last week for the latest round of the class' 2013 Grand Prix series.

Eight travellers made the trip to the Lea Valley country park with, doubtless, summer holidays affecting turnout somewhat. Nonetheless, this was a quality fleet all looking to test themselves at this lovely venue - as well as preparing / testing kit for the upcoming Nationals.

The wind on the day was a little higher than forecast, with the trees and islands also adding to the randomness of the big gusts that were popping up - but that just made things more fun as race one got underway with a lovely long beat almost the full length of the available water.

This Summer has obviously proved as popular with the weed growth as much as people judging by the amount of rudder lifting going on, but - as Wayne said - it was the same for everyone as the race became very tactical.

Father and son duo Simon and Matt Hopkins showed each other no mercy as they pulled out a lengthy lead on the fleet, whilst another father / son combination - Paul and Nathan Bevan - showed much more family sympathy as they synchronise-capsized together at exactly the same point on the course.

The race was won by Matt from Simon, with Nathan recovering very quickly from his dunking to finish third.

Race two saw a very close and competitive start in a lessening breeze with, again, a lovely long beat to really stretch those hiking legs. Several were still getting caught out by the weed patches, but a closer race this time around saw Matt win again and Lightning stalwart Caroline Key hold off Bevan the younger to take third.

A lovely lunch was then taken, before the final race of the day got underway.

Lee Bratley made a good start here but soon had Simon Hopkins in close attendance. 2012's candidate for 'most improved helm' - Bryan Westley - though, soon showed the fleet a very stealthy set of heels as, following everyone else tacking all over the place, he seemed to simply sail straight ahead and, at one point, into the lead.

At this point Lee suffered kicker-snappage and was forced to retire from what could have been his best race of the day. Wayne Jenner was also forced to turn back and this left a big hole in midfleet for the remainder of this one.

At the end, though, Caroline had pulled out a considerable lead to take the victory by a long way from Matt and Simon.

So, Matt Hopkins took the overall victory on the day, with his pair of firsts also strengthening his challenge in the series table. It's beginning to look as though a repeat of last years final-beat-of-the-final-race-decider could well be on the cards again as he closes in on Paul White.

Many thanks must go to the whole team at Fishers Green, what a lovely place to go sailing - another superb Lightning368 venue. Good courses, great galley and just a lovely club. We hope to see you again next year.

Next up are the 2013 Lightning368 Nationals at Northampton on the 14th and 15th of September. Always a great, fun event this year also features two 'big' birthdays.....as Bryan beautifully put it: "Sunday's races could be very, very long indeed!"

Overall Results: