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Results / Open Penarth YC - 15/07/2012


GUL RS300 NATIONALS – Day 1

 

Torquay is a hilly place. There are 268 steps between the Royal Torbay YC, hosting the GUL RS300 Nationals this week, and my bed and breakfast, and those hills caused all kinds of headaches for the sailors as they struggled with shifty conditions in a force 4-5 Southwesterly.

 

First race on Thursday for the Clive Everest Cup was characterised by a large shift up the first beat. It was a case of local boy made good as first to the windward mark was Garry Phare, showing some serious pace (and local knowledge) and deciding only to tack once on the whole leg. Also in the mix were Dave Acres (Thorney Island), Andy Flitcroft (Bolton), Tom Ballingall and Richard LeMare (Draycote Water) and James Phare (RTYC/Queen Mary).

 

After two long reaches the positions had become clearer. Acres had moved into the lead but Steve Bolland (Bristol Corinthian/RTYC) had piled on the coals downwind to move into second spot ahead of LeMare. Over the following two laps Bolland moved into the lead and Acres held off LeMare and Steve Fisher (Draycote water), recovering well from a poor first beat. Fifth was James Phare, sixth Richard Kennedy (Thorney Island).

 

Conditions were more blustery if anything for race 2 and, like in race 1 there was a significant shift to the right up the first beat. Jeff Marksz (Milton Keynes) took best use of this to lead from Fisher and Bolland. There followed an extremely fast reach to the gybe mark at which Fisher, Bolland and much of the rest of the fleet capsized. After the carnage was cleared away Marksz had stretched his lead from Fisher with Bolland back in mid fleet. How was he going to get out of this one?

 

On the second beat, Fisher took the lead from Marks, these two holding a healthy lead from a gaggle of boats. More carnage ensued down the run as the wind piped up again. The main beneficiary was Bolland who moved up to fifth place behind the leading duo and Alex Lomas (Llandudno) and Kennedy who were continuing to perform well.

 

After another lap Fisher took the gun from Marksz, Bolland, LeMare, Lomas and Kennedy.

 

3 races are due to be sailed on day 2 (Friday) for the Speed Sails Cup. Conditions again look fruity but the sun is out and it’s all downhill all the way to the yacht club.

 

Day 2

 

Yesterday, I may have rather flippantly used the word ‘fruity’ in relation to the conditions anticipated for day 2 of the GUL RS300 Nationals hosted by the Royal Torbay YC. Well, if day 1 was ‘weapons grade windy’ (Yachts & Yachting forum weather) then Day 2 was proper ‘championship wind’ with the westerly at well over 20 knots with gusts.

 

After a clean start Sam Sutton (Leigh & Lowton) led the fleet to the first windward mark followed by Steve Bolland (Bristol Corinthian/Royal Torbay) 4-5 boat lengths behind with Neil Beveridge (Prestwick) also in close contention. Elsewhere in the fleet the conditions were already beginning to take their toll. In second place overnight, Steve Fisher (Draycote Water) was having a nightmare. Having capsized up the first beat he was at the back as the fleet bore off onto the long super-fast reach. How was he going to get out of this one?

 

Up front, Bolland took the lead from Sutton by steering a lower course on the run and executing a neat(ish) gybe that gave him some breathing space on the second reach, a lead that he stretched up the second beat.

 

It all began to get topsy turvy as the downhill legs started again. Bolland binned it almost immediately on bearing away allowing both Sutton and Beveridge through and a fast-moving Fisher onto his tail. When both Beveridge and Fisher went swimming on the first reach and Sutton went in violently on the run, Bolland one more found himself in the lead.

 

With the fleet now well spread out it was a case of conservative sailing and Bolland managed to stay upright on the final downwind leg to take the gun. A little further back it looked like local hero Garry Phare would take second place until he went in to windward 50 yards from the finish, losing two places in the process to Fisher and Ben Yeats (Chanonry).

 

Day 3

 

After only 1 race was sailed on day 2 (Friday) due to the conditions it was an early start Saturday with the prospect of 4 races back-to-back for the RS300 fleet at their Nationals at Royal Torbay YC. Conditions were more clement than Friday with a nice force 3-4 Westerly but with shifts and holes a-plenty.

 

In race 4, and repeating his feat from day 1, initial leader was Garry Phare from the home club. However, Thomas Kennedy (Thorney Island) took the lead on the reaches and was not seriously challenged thereafter. Steve Bolland (Bristol Corinthian/Royal Torbay) moved into second as the race progressed ahead of Dave Acres (Thorney Island) and Tim Keen (Sheffield Viking), belatedly showing some of his true form.

 

Sam Sutton (Leigh & Lowton) led the fleet away in race 5 after a nicely judged lay-line approach. However, Bolland used his downwind speed to move from 10th to 1st on the first reach and pulled out a useful lead on the next lap to the finish. Acres narrowly pipped Sutton for second place with Keen chipping in with another fourth.

 

After a general recall the black flag came out at the start of race 6 and there were a number of casualties, not least Dave Acres who led the race from start to finish but crossed the line to silence. It has to be said, however, that he did look several lengths over the start line! Bolland took the bullet from Richard Kennedy (Thorney Island), Thomas Kennedy, Steve Fisher (Draycote Water) and Steven Noble (Bosham).

 

The wind had softened a bit for the final race of the day. Acres, belatedly realising where the start line was, made no mistake in this one and had established an unassailable lead by the first mark having made best use of a large left-hand shift up the first beat. Keen took second place from Luke South (Bosham), Neil Beveridge (Prestwick) and Ian Smith (Craven).

 

Day 4

 

Going into the final 3 races Bolland was holding a useful points lead over Fisher but with the second discard about to kick in then Acres was also right in the mix. As luck would have it, conditions were perfect for the 33 boat fleet on the final day – a force 4 Southerly, sun and waves.

 

After a hard first beat Bolland led narrowly from Noble and Fisher at the top mark in race 8. Bolland extended his lead downwind and also benefited from a lot of covering of each other by the boats behind. Bolland took the gun from Acres who had come past Ben Yeats (Chanonry) on the last lap, Fisher and South.

 

Although Bolland had already won the championship he nevertheless stayed out for race 9. However, he was no match for Yeats who, despite glancing worriedly over his shoulder a few times down the reach to the finish, held off Bolland to take a well deserved race win. Sutton took third and Acres fourth.

 

In the final race nothing was decided until the last few yards of the course with some confusion amongst the front runners as to the number of laps to be sailed. Yeats again led for much of the race but finally had to settle for third behind race winner Acres and Richard LeMare (Draycote Water).

 

So, a great end to a great week both on and off the water. The class would like to express its thanks to Royal Torbay YC for its smooth running of the event, and particularly to PRO Mike Currie and his race team and Pippa Seaton for the admin side. Thanks also to sponsors GUL and Fotoboat.

 

Prizewinners

 

Top Club                                 Thorney Island

Probationer                             Dave Acres

Master                                     Steve Bolland

Silver Fleet                              Tim Keen

A Rig                                       Alex Lomas

Top buddies                            Luke South/Steven Noble

Top Scot                                 Ben Yeats

Top helm on crutches             Phil Underwood

 

 

 

GUL RS300 UK NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009

Entries: 33      Races Sailed: 10      Discard: 2
Series Place Sail No Probationer Helm A Rig Silver Club Master Series Points Race 1 Race 2 Race 3 Race 4 Race 5 Race 6 Race 7 Race 8 Race 9 Race 10
1 411   Steve Bolland B   Bristol Corinthian YC/RTYC M 12 1 3 1 2 1 1 10 1 2 34
2 480 P Dave Acres B   Thorney Island SC M 25 2 10 34 3 2 34 1 2 4 1
3 456   Steve Fisher B   Draycote Water SC   39 4 1 2 7 10 4 8 4 9 10
4 432 P Richard Kennedy B   Thorney Island SC   47 6 6 10 14 5 2 6 6 17 6
5 352   Ben Yeats B   Chanonry SC   55 11 12 3 25 7 34 15 3 1 3
6 416   Neil Beveridge B   Prestwick SC M 58 9 7 11 19 9 11 4 9 5 4
7 457 P Luke South B   Bosham SC   60 7 19 8 8 8 9 3 5 12 34
8 426   Richard LeMare B   Draycote Water SC   61 3 4 5 12 17 10 26 18 8 2
9 471   James Phare B   Royal Torbay YC   63 5 8 9 5 13 34 14 8 6 9
10 328   Tim Keen B S Sheffield Viking SC   66 21 16 34 4 4 6 2 14 15 5
11 383 P Thomas Kennedy B   Thorney Island SC   72 13 13 13 1 11 3 7 11 14 15
12 368   Ian Smith B   Craven SC M 73 15 18 7 6 12 8 5 13 7 34
13 514   Sam Sutton B S Leigh & Loughton SC   77 17 17 12 11 3 34 27 7 3 7
14 519   Jeff Marksz B   Milton Keynes SC   88 8 2 17 24 14 7 21 17 11 12
15 369   Alex Lomas A   Llandudno SC   93 18 5 6 23 19 14 17 12 10 11
16 3   Gary Phare B S Royal Torbay YC M 96 14 21 4 10 16 16 16 15 13 8
17 360 P Andy Flitcroft B   Bolton SC   105 10 9 34 13 15 13 19 16 16 13
18 527 P Steven Noble B S Bosham SC   117 22 34 18 17 6 5 22 10 18 21
19 31   Phil Underwood B   Cotswold SC M 127 16 11 14 29 27 15 13 21 20 17
20 450   Mark Henman A S Sunderland YC M 155 25 23 20 28 25 12 11 24 22 18
21 321   Tom Ballinghall B S Draycote Water SC   160 23 20 16 18 22 18 9 34 34 34
22 398   Emlyn Davies A S TCSC   164 24 25 34 15 21 27 18 20 21 20
23 422   Alastair Wood B S Bough Beech SC   164 20 26 19 20 18 24 28 23 24 16
24 460 P Roy Sievers B S Thorney Island SC   168 19 15 15 16 23 34 12 34 34 34
25 365 P Dave Barker B S Draycote Water SC M 185 26 22 34 9 20 17 31 34 26 34
26 374   Russell Hopkins B S Tewksbury SC   190 34 34 34 31 29 20 24 19 19 14
27 343   Steven Dewberry B S Deben YC M 194 27 24 34 32 31 19 29 22 23 19
28 516 P Stephen Sharpe B S RAFSA & Aldenham SC M 207 28 29 34 26 28 26 23 34 25 22
29 511   Mark Smith B   Aldenham SC   208 12 14 34 21 34 25 34 34 34 34
30 526 P James Le Couilliard B S Aldenham SC   228 29 28 34 34 26 23 20 34 34 34
31 515   John Peters B S Hykeham SC M 231 34 34 34 22 30 22 30 25 34 34
32 525   Barry Steel B S Aldenham SC M 233 30 27 34 30 32 21 25 34 34 34
33 455 P Ted Cordall B S Bosham SC M 249 34 34 34 27 24 28 34 34 34 34

Sun 06 Sep 09 14:45
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