This week we welcomed back our lucky charm of the last couple of years, sponsors Galliford Try Managing Director James Armitage, and he very nearly came good for us again!

A very keenly contested pin-end start saw us force our way out from underneath our keenest opposition Quokka (Elan 37) and take control of the left hand side of the first beat. This side appeared to pay with only the much faster and more highly rated (and professionally skippered!) X35 "Cool Runnings" making any mileage from the right hand side. With the wind getting very gusty as we approached the windward mark we rounded astern of Cool Runnings with the level rated "Steady Barker" (Bavaria Match 38) on our transom.

The broad reach to a laid orange inflatable left little tactical option and the drag race was neck and neck until a J109 cam up from leeward to join between us and Steady Barker opening up a small but useful gap!

The next beat saw us applying cover to Barker on the left with Cool Runnings, X-Dream (another X35 one design) and Quokka choosing the right hand side. As we rounded the second windward mark it became obvious that this had been the preferred option as both the X's had made ground ahead of us and Quokka had closed the gap enormously behind bringing Sanguma (Ker one off) up with them.

The next downwind leg saw us open a small but valuable gap on Steady Barker, Quokka and Sanguma who got involved protecting themselves from each other! This allowed us to concentrate on clawing back time from the Xs on the remaining legs.

There was little change upwind but the last downwind leg saw us take time out of X-Dream and the chasing pack. A solid beat to the finish wasn't quiet enough to catch the John Greenland skippered Cool Runnings who remained 15 seconds ahead on corrected time but gave us an excellent second place ahead of Quokka, both of us managing to save our time on X Dream and Steady Barker.

This sees the two Elans, ourselves and Quokka, back to our usual one and two at the head of the overall standings with Steady Barker a point back in third and Cool Runnings a further three points back in fourth. (See www.garminhamblewinterseries.co.uk for information, results, reports, photos etc).

As an observation we are delighted to see the appearance of the X35 one design into our fleet. This much-heralded yacht, the replacement of the X332, is being campaigned by a number of very good crews including the ex Capitali$m (HoD 35) team headed by Tim Harrington and the Cool Runnings team, skippered and helmed by pro-sailor John Greenland. It is also good to see the return of Steady Barker to action after a couple of quiet seasons, now with new sails and sailmaker/tactician sailing aboard. This level of competition has got to be good for all the participants as it sharpens up tactical, boat handling and racecraft skills in order to stay at the front of the fleet! We look forward to the rest of the series being as well fought.