Race 8 gave us a stiff breeze and some interesting tidal conditions, making it very hard work for us to break the pack. Being one of the few boats in our fleet to use a spinnaker appeared to give us an advantage after the second downwind leg, but the Bavaria 38 Match Steady Barker just saved her time on us to take a win by 3 seconds, with the X362 Extra Djinn only 7 seconds behind us in 3rd!

A good result which secured an overall victory by 15 points from our fellow Elan 40 Passion, who pipped the HOD 35 Carpetbagger on countback!

A great result for the guys and girls at Rob Humphreys Yacht Design who have seen their designs take 1, 2, 3 in the series, and also for Sanders Sails who have seen their sails in a 1,2.

For Flair IV it meant we just misssed out on the Boat of the Series prize, awarded to the Adams 10m Great Scot II in IRC3, though clearly wining IRC2 was a fitting finale to a year that has already seen us crowned IRC National Champions, Warsash Spring Series IRC2 Champions and "Boat of the Series".

Roll on 2004 which will see us resplendent in our new Gul kit and on a new Flair, Flair V, an Elan 37 which is due for a March delivery.

Thanks to all of our supporters, current and future, to the families and to the crew.