Nine skippers attended the first Footy open for ages, all for the honor of taking home the Mad March Hare trophy, a simple upwind downwind course was set and the skippers from five clubs set about trying to remember what Footy sailing is all about.
Early on Peter Shepherd (65 Fat Boy) seemed to have it cracked however John Burgoine (35 ICE) came back at him mid morning with Peter Jackson (30 IBEX) sailing to two victories just before lunch, this meant it was all to play for after lunch. In the afternoon the wind blew up and most skippers switched down to "C" rigs however this meant that races 9 to 16 belonged to Fat Boy who took seven out of the eight races. The main difference between the top three and the rest of the fleet being when they switched down they're "C" sized swing rigs were of a high aspect variety.
In the midfield the racing was very close with just two points separating David Wilkinson (46 ICE), Tom Duggins (85 Slim) and Roger Stollery (117 Wonkey) who finished in that order respectively. The remainder of the fleet were placed in the order of attrition.
One addition to the fleet was Rogers "Wonkey" an interesting idea for an asymmetric hull made from Corex which maximises waterline length by fitting diagonally in the box closely shaped to the box itself, whereas the ICE is designed and is often sailed to survive the gusts with a larger sail area, generally the diagonal boats carry less sail and aim to fit the conditions often allowing them to point higher.