A fleet of 17 Flying Fifteens from Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club and South of Perth Yacht Club braved the early morning start on Saturday March 23 for Day 1 of the Pre-states regatta on Melville Water West.  Three races were scheduled for Day 1, with another three for the following day. Sometimes shifty south-easterly breezes at up to 10 knots persisted for the morning, creating some interesting conditions for competitors  Those that picked the shifts and found the pressure had the opportunity to make some good gains.  

Unsurprisingly, the cream rose to the top, and by the end of Day 1 Nick Jerwood was at the top of the results sheets with 2 firsts and a second, closely pursued by Levo and Baddie in Glamour Buoys who had a first and two thirds.  Not far behind was Greg Tonnison in Spot the Difference on a rising trend with a fourth, third and second.

Day 2 on Sunday March 24 started at a similar early hour, with the wind once again in the south-east but lighter than for Day 1, with winds generally under 5 knots and very shifty.  Adding to the light-wind challenge was sharing the course with the Couta Boats who were sailing their State Titles - by crikey they cast a big wind shadow!

A slightly smaller fleet of 14 boats greeted the starters gun for the first race of the day, Race 4 of the series.  The wind progressively dropped during this race, with those at the back of the fleet left becalmed after the front runners had finished.  This led to four of the fleet being classified as DNF due to not being able to finish within the specified time limit.  At the pointy end of the fleet, Hamish Carnachan and Muddi got the finishing gun, followed by Greg Tonnison in Spot the Difference, and David Yu and Chris Nelson taking the last spot on the podium in Tuffan Up. A long postponement ensued before the Race Officer decided that the wind wasn't going to fill in and hoisted P over A.

With Nick Jerwood having finished fourth in Race 4, he consequently won the series, with Greg Tonnison in Spot the Difference second and Levo and Baddie in Glamour Buoys third.

All results for the series can be viewed here.  There are also some photos from the series (courtesy of the RFBYC mark layer, George Vaskovics) which can be viewed here.