A TWO minute silence was held on Remembrance Sunday at the start of the Royal Southampton Yacht Club's fifth race of their Winter Series.

But on the first warning signal of the day, the wind rose to a gentle four knots, allowing racing to start and with a strong ebb-tide.

All yachts struggled to clear the line before the next class approached, but eventually everyone was clear and away up to Weston Shelf just below Dockhead.

One of those broaching just before the finish was RSYC's Rear Commodore Sailing, Peter Bateson, in the Sonar Fiscal.

But despite nearly losing a jacket over the side, the four-man crew of family and friends took first place in Class 3 just over two minutes ahead of Jonathon Meeson in Fantastic Mr Fox.

In the MOCRA multihull class, David Mcleman in Zoum! managed a credible third place in his first outing in the series, but first place went to Pete Jenkins in Shakatak, a good two-and-a-half minutes ahead of James Stewart on Kokomo.

However, Kokomo leads the series with five points ahead of Mike Wigmore on Trivia with eight points.

Class 2 (IRC) saw the closest racing of the day, with Colin Woodruff on the Laser 28 Blazer taking first place by just one second ahead of the H-boat Badger.

Badger was in a winning position when they misjudged an upwind mark rounding, approaching it from the main channel on port while many others came in on starboard, leading to their tacking twice to avoid right-of-way boats.

A minute-and-a-half behind Badger in third place was the Mustang Revival II sailed by Tony Hanfrey. Despite coming fourth in the race, the Sigma 33 Hooligan remains in the lead overall, with Blazer second and Backchat third.

Class 1 (IRC) saw the J-80 NJOS pushed down into an unfamiliar second place by Mike Garvey in his X-332 X-Parrot, while John Webb's Spirit of Plane Sailing, with Peter Rowsom helming, managed third, 30 seconds ahead of the new J-105 Fay-J.

Overall, NJOS still leads the series, with The Red Dragon, Hooligan IV and Fay-J all competing for second and third places.