THE Autumn Leaf race series began at Clacton Sailing Club.

It took place under unbroken blue skies in mild temperatures, with solid, force four offshore winds keeping the sea flat.

Five catamaran teams gathered to prepare their craft.

Pete Boxer and Eilish Dempsey borrowed their son's Dart 16 and went on to claim the first win - but not without a battle.

Racing among the regulars is getting increasingly tight, with a lot of focus on making a good start.

Brian Allen teamed up with experienced crew Matt Burrell but their enthusiasm found them seconds early at the line, with the flooding spring tide carrying them over early and forcing them to restart.

Rob Mitchell, after dabbling with a crew last week, reverted to sailing his yellow Dart 16 single-handed and started close on the heels of Boxer and Dempsey, chasing them along the beach to the windward mark.

Larry Foxon and Mike Rolfe, in the Hurricane 5.9, knew they would have their hands full in this more powerful cat but nevertheless appeared to hold nothing back as they chased, caught and overtook the Dart 16s to round the windward mark in first place.

With gusts of stronger winds chasing across the surface, the cats accelerated out to sea on broad reaches with the crews rapidly adjusting the settings of the sails to match the new apparent wind.

Larry and Mike chose to sail a higher but faster downwind course, survived the gybe and laid the seaward mark in first position.

Mitchell, meanwhile, was racing hard, always close on the tail of Boxer and Dempsey and looking for any opportunity to pass as both boats hardened-up heading back inshore.

Mitchell finally decided he wasn't going to win the pinching dual and tacked-off onto starboard.

The other Rob Mitchell this week sailed with his son Toby and, distinguished by a pair of grey hulls, had chased the leaders out of the blocks and could benefit from seeing how and where the others struggled with the conditions.

High-speed sailing in these powerful boats has a way of finding weakness in equipment or preparation and Rob Mitchell's race was over in the yellow 16 when his jib halyard broke.

Despite struggling to roller reef and to carry on, he eventually had to withdraw out of fear of causing more damage.

From the ODM, the boats sailed back out to the seaward mark, then beam reached off towards Frinton before heading back to cross the start line, effectively sailing an upwind triangle followed by a downwind triangle for the first of three laps.

Larry and Mike, on the Hurricane, were caught in a vicious gust on the second lap and were unable to stop the 18' cat from capsizing.

The pair were able to right the boat without support but were also forced to retire after suffering a broken centre board.

Another gust hit Allen and Burrell, nearly causing them to pitch pole, burying the bows up to the mast.

Despite pushing hard, they were unable to catch Boxer and had to settle for second place.

Father and son team Mitchell revelled in the conditions and sailed a competent race to come in third.