A MIXTURE of rain and light and changeable breezes meant it was hardly a day for purists when Royal Mersey Yacht Club staged its annual regatta on the Mersey.

But the crews maintained a good spirit and the officials wisely cut the course in half to ensure results in all classes.

Mike Colley, in Merlin, deservedly took the Mylne award, leading from start to finish on a day when positional changes were frequent.

Mark Lynskey took a close race in the Mersey Squibs in Lately.

In the Falcons, Peter Healey, in Golden Eagle, found himself swept down by the flood tide and started nearly 10 minutes late. But in a remarkable turn around, he went on to snatch the winning gun.

The Wallasey Seabirds turned out in force and in a tight finale Alan Snowden kept Goosander ahead.

Other wins were recorded by John Hale in the Hoylake Operas, Joe Bethell in the West Kirby Hilbres, Barry Arnison in the Darts, and Neil Thomas and Gordon Dewar in the Offshore yachts.

RESULTS:

Mylne - Merlin (M. Colley, Royal Mersey)

Squibs - Lately (M. Lynskey, Royal Mersey)

Falcons - Golden Eagle (P. Healey, West Kirby)

Hilbres - Hilsa (J. Bethell, West Kirby)

Operas - Country Girl (J. Hale, Hoylake)

Seabirds - Goosander (A. Snowden, Wallasey)

Darts - Bionic Bananas (B. Arnison, Dee)

Channel Handicap - Paranoah (N. Thomas, Liverpool

LBSA - Solution (G. Dewar, Liverpool).

Conditions were much better for the Liverpool YC Regatta on Sunday, but there was confusion over a mark in the Channel Handicap Division One and a protest committee will sort matters out.

Mylne - Meraquita (C. Broad, Royal Mersey)

Squibs - Catalina (P. White, Royal Mersey)

Falcons - Hawkwind (J. Burthem, West Kirby)

Hilbres - Hilsa

Darts - Bionic Bananas

Seabirds - Sandpiper (A. Watson)

Operas - La Boheme (H. Chapman)

Channel Handicap Division One - Subject to protest

Division Two - Bare Necessity (D. Unthank, Tranmere)

LBSA - Myth of Minto (R. Simpson, Liverpool).

West Kirby put on a two day open meeting for Cadets with a total of eight races on the tide and the Marine Lake.

The youngsters had to contend with big seas and strong winds on Sunday, but coped well.

Home competitors Andrew Cornah and David Cheshire were first and second overall.

RESULTS:

Cadet Open - 1, The Red Cadet (A. Cornah, West Kirby), 9pts; 2, Northern Exposure (D. Cheshire, West Kirby), 12pts; 3=, 9019 (C. Wiltshire, South Cerney) and Cool As Ice (G. Corlett, West Kirby), 22pts.

Marine Lake winners:

Firefly - Tony Ankcorn

Lasers - Jamie Smith

Fast Handicap - Gareth Owen

Slow Handicap - Julie Cornah

GP 14, Gold - Neil Platt

Silver - John Carlin

Cadet - Andrew Cornah

Junior Handicap - James Gaskin.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.