KILLINGTON Sailing Association entered the Southport 24-hour dinghy sailing race for the first time at the weekend and and finished a respectable 41st out of 77 finishers, winning a coveted finishers' plaque.

Gusts up to Force 7 did not faze the 15-strong team as they gamely continued throughout the night fuelled by bacon butties and mugs of tea.

They sailed an Enterprise dinghy sponsored by Pete Lawson of Sailblades.com which survived without any damage, unlike many other competitors who were busy repairing boats in the middle of the night.

The team completed 84 laps of the marine lake at Southport all members "enjoying" at least one capsize in the strong winds.

Pitstops not only involved an interesting gybing exit, but fast changeovers which involved the original helmsman jumping out of the boat into the lake to make room for the new one.

n ONE race was sailed in the Flying Fifteen Overdrafft Trophy Series, on Saturday, when the fleet left the submerged Royal Windermere Yacht Club jetties for a north lake start line near Adelaide on the east shore.

Squally gusts accompanied the start of the race and David Brockbank and Rob Parfitt in Five powered through on the beat straight to the first mark at FBA South to lead from Bev Armer and Chris Barnes in Ffidget and Michael Bentley and John Barker in Folly.

In the continuing strong wind boat order at the head of the fleet stayed the same until the approach to Claife when sudden windless conditions brought the leaders to a halt.

Ffidget took a long approach from the north and picked up the first breeze to round the mark at speed and take a decisive lead, while Five and Folly waited their turn.

As the wind strength varied on the second lap Ffidget's lead increased with Five and Folly holding on to second and third over the third and final lap of an uneven race.

Result: 1 B. Armer & C. Barnes, Ffidget; 2 D. Brockbank & R. Parfitt, Five; 3 M. Bentley & J. Barker, Folly.

n ONLY six RWYC 17-foot class yachts took part in the final race of the season held in a strong westerly wind with very squally conditions.

Pilgrim, helmed by Graham Tullett and expertly crewed by owner Mark Ormerod, led from start to finish over the north lake course to conclude an excellent season's results.

Paul Harkness in Naiad and Tony Brindle in Mystery had a close battle for second with Naiad succeeding at the finish.

Gay Crossley's Whisper was fourth followed by Ian Tomlinson in Lapwing.

The Average and Points trophies for the season were won by Chas Ingham, Chameleon, with Pilgrim second.

The Classic Average was won by Amira with Whisper winning the Points.

An excellent season was enjoyed by all with an average number of 15 yachts starting each race.