LAKE sailors from Windermere ventured south to take on the sea sailors of the Solent and acquitted themselves with distinction.

The Flying Duckman, helmed by Chris Duck and crewed by Richard Rigg, Peter Wright, Ian Frith, Alistair Rose and Richard Parkinson was second overall in the Cork 1720 Southern Championships, at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club, Cowes, and 13th overall out of 1500 boats in the famous Round the Isle of Wight race.

In the class championship they finished eighth in the first race, beaten largely by local knowledge as Robert Bickets in Phoebe managed to hold the lead all the way round.

In the next race The Flying Duckman was pushing the leading boats hard and on the final lap it was neck and neck between the top four. But with a strong tide and light winds there was little place changing and they finished fourth.

In the third race good boat speed and good handling put Duckman into third, which they held to the finish.

The final race of the day saw the Windermere crew make their best start of the day. They rounded the windward mark third then overtook the two boats in and held the opposition off to take line honours with their first win in a major championships.

They finished second overall, three points behind Phoebe.

The 50-mile Round The Island race involved a 7am start in a fleet of 1500 boats, from the classic J-class yacht Velsheda down to the local six-metre class, similar to Windermere 17-footers.

The first four Corks rounded The Needles within four minutes of each other.

At Bembridge Ledge Duckman split from the rest of the Cork fleet and plumped to sail about half-a-mile out to sea.

It was in inspired move as the fleet then ran into heavy tide.

Duckman carried the lead back in to the Solent, but G&T managed to get through and with local knowledge pulled away. He held his lead to the finish with Duckman second.

At the end of the eight-hour race there was just one minute between the first and third Corks.

On corrected time Duckman finished 13th overall, beating the time of Volvo For Racing which Olympic medal winners Ben Ainsley and Shirley Roberts on board.

Graham Murray, also from the RWYC, helming a Corby 25 finished first in class by 20 minutes and first in the handicap group. He won the Fidelis Trophy for being second overall in the 600-strong Island Sailing Club fleet.

n On Saturday, in a light south-easterly wind, the Royal Windermere Yacht Club’s Flying Fifteen fleet sailed a zig-zag south lake course, to Storrs on the east shore, across to Sandy Nab on the west, then down to Ghyll Head near the Motor Boat Club, with a long spinnaker leg back to the Ferry mark.

Andrew Kirk and Carole Drury in Zephyr took an early lead, with Terry and Tristan Tinn in Flying Ferret and Frank Kelly and Brian Garvey ahead of the rest of the fleet.

The run back to Ferry was interesting as the Flying Fifteens ran back with the 17-ft fleet causing some position changing as both fleets rounded the mark at the same time.

On the final round, Michael Bentley and John Barker in Folly took advantage of a premature shortening gun to join the leaders and finish second.

On Sunday, with very little wind a short triangular course was set in the north lake.

Within five minutes of a drifting start a strong breeze developed and the fleet completed all five laps.

Bev Armer and Colin Brunt in Ffidget took an early lead, followed by Andrew Kirk and Litton Ledger in Zephyr, with Terry and Bethany Tinn ahead of the rest of the fleet.

As the boats approached the final mark at the end of the race, Carole and Dave Berry in Saffire took advantage of a wind shift and came up into second place.

Results: Saturday: 1 A. Kirk & C. Drury, Zephyr; 2 M. Bentley & J. Barker, Folly; 3 T. & T. Tinn, Flying Ferret.

Sunday: 1 B. Armer & C. Brunt, Ffidget; 2 C. & D. Berry, Saffire; 3 T. & B. Tinn, Flying Ferret.

Mirror Class results: 1 Emma Houlihan, 2 Julian Haigh, 3 Sheona Sweeney & Hannah Parkinson.

n Winds varying between nothing and a westerly Force 4 made for an interesting evening for Killington Windsurfers.

Dan Jackson dominating the racing, but the battle for second was keenly fought between John Pawson and Phil Atherton with Atherton coming out best.

Lower down the order, Martin Chapman continued to show improvement and managed to beat Adrian Abrahams in the fourth race for the first time this season.

The final race was under very light wind conditions and Mike Wong managed to beat Bill Davison as both racers perform better in light winds.

Overall result: 1 D. Jackson, 2 P. Atherton, 3 J.Pawson.