It was a long hard day for both the sailors and the boats on this the first day of the 10R UK Nationals being held this year at West Kirby. There was a Westerly breeze moving around to WNW and then back again and starting at 10 knots, increasing to nearly 20 knots and then finally dropping to 11 knots by the end of the day. Cloudy at the start of the day, the sun appeared at lunchtime and the fleet enjoyed good clear sun for a while and champagne sailing in the breeze.
17 races were completed by the select group of 13 sailors, who had a hard time an may have ended up the day having walking getting on for 12 miles with a 250m long course of 2 laps and a short windward leg to finish.
James Edwards ended up on top with Graham Bantock not far behind, with third place being taken by Duncan Ellis. Graham had problems with losing radio contact early on in the day and so missed out on 4 races an currently counts one DNF in his final score. All to play for tomorrow.
The weather for day 2 is not looking as good as Day 1 with heavy rain forecast.
