Warsash Sailing Club hosted the Blaze Open Meeting on 19 & 20 July with Surfers Against Sewage sponsoring the event and providing the prizes.

Fourteen Blazes, all with the Blaze X sail, sailed a triangle, sausage, triangle course off Meon beach at the mouth of Southampton Water.
Despite Saturday's forecast of rain the fleet enjoyed three back to back races in broken sunshine with a SW'ly force 2 to 3 and a typical Solent chop.

Local sailors Chris Coleman and James Morland, in the Topper demo boat, lead up the first beat with Mike Lyons and the other inland sailors trying a variety of ways to maintain upwind speed through to confused seas! Lyons passed Moorland on the reach and was catching Coleman on the second run but a shortened course gifted the race to Coleman with Lyons close behind and Ian Moss third.

In race two the decisive manoeuvre came on the third run when Lyons gybed behind Coleman, found a gust a planed past and on to the finish for a win. With the wind dropping for race three and the ebb tide running Coleman watched as his two hundred metre lead was whittled down by Lyons on the run to the line, but this time Coleman held on to win.

On Sunday a two mile fast reach to the race area was followed by three more races in a SW'ly 4 with gusts around 20 knots and larger seas. Lyons lead at the windward mark with Dave Evans, enjoying the fresher conditions, and Coleman who passed Evans on the reach. James Morland suffered rack damage and retired which unfortunately spoilt what would have been a good result, but he still managed to beat his Father, Vice Commodore Derek!

On the second beat Coleman passed Lyons to win with Evans pulling past Lyons for second and third. Chris Coleman won the last two races to win overall with Mike Lyons of Burghfield SC second, Dave Evans of Calshot SC third, Ian Moss of Whitefriars SC fourth, John Abbott of Oxford SC fifth and Treasurer and Membership Secretary Paul Taylor of Burghfield sixth.

The weekend was rounded off with a screaming two mile reach in brilliant sunshine back to Warsash for a well earned pint and big smiles all round.
Thanks to Peter Knight PRO and his team afloat, Warsash Sea Scouts who looked after the trolleys and Surfers Against Sewage for prizes from first to eighth.