TWO days of contrasting conditions greeted the three Walton and Frinton Yacht Club yachts as they sailed out to the start line in Harwich for races seven and eight in the Haven Series.

The weekend's racing also encompassed the Cutler Team Racing Challenge for the coveted Wilkinson Sword Trophy.

Walton's team consisted of Blue Beeste (X332), owned and sailed by Charles Penfold and Martin Jenkins, Spirit of Defiance (SOD) (Contessa 33), owned and sailed by Geoff Parker, Tom Blake and Will Stephens, and Zero Gravitas (SJ 320), owned and sailed by The Brooke Mob.

Blue Beeste was also poised to retain the title of overall champion of the series, having posted results of four firsts and two seconds in the first six races.

Race officer Alec Moss started the slower boats in class two in a sparkling 18/22 knot breeze at 10.15am, with the faster boats setting off 15 minutes later.

SOD and Zero Gravitas had good starts and Zero was soon able to get through to the front of her fleet and lead the entire race, although her high rating meant she was giving time to all the other boats in her class.

As the faster boats in class one started, a tactical joust took place between Blue Beeste and Ickle Jura (J97), which was being sailed by top Suffolk yachtsman David Pinner.

Both boats suffered a little from the pre-start jousting but it was Blue Beeste who got away first and set off in pursuit of early leader Big Wig (First 36.7).

The class one boats were enjoying the brisk conditions and Blue Beeste did a good job in hanging on to Big Wig throughout the race, enabling her to take the race win with Eclipse (Contessa 33) second and first boat in class two and Ickle Jura third.

Zero Gravitas and SOD finished fifth and sixth.

These results meant that overnight the Walton team had a narrow lead of just one point over rivals HPYC but Blue Beeste had done enough to have an unassailable lead in the series with three races still to be sailed.

The conditions on Sunday were very different.

The boats had to drift around for a couple of hours until 11.20am when the race officer was able to start the race in a very light four to five knot breeze.

The slower boats struggled to make way in the very light conditions and the faster class one boats soon chased through the 15-minute difference in start timing to catch the class two boats by the first mark.

Clearly it was going to be a race to favour the faster boats and Blue Beeste again did the business by sailing faultlessly to record her sixth overall win.

With SOD and Zero Gravitas again finishing fifth and sixth they had done enough to beat their fierce rivals at Haven Ports YC to win the Cutler Series by just two points.

The impressive Wilkinson Sword Trophy will be returning to the bar of the Walton club after the prizegiving in October.

The final races in the Haven Series take place over the weekend of September 24 and 25.