Results / Gul Scottish Grand Slam East Lothian YC - 04/05/2002
The five event GUL RS GRAND SLAM Circuit which includes Torbay, Stokes
Bay/Lee on Solent, the Nationals and the Inlands kicked off in some style
at East Lothian Y.C, North Berwick on May 4/5th. For the second year in a
row the weather gods really liked the idea of an RS event in North
Berwick on a Bank Holiday and supplied glorious sunshine, almost total
clear blue skies and decent winds. In such weather the sailing area of
North Berwick has to be one of the most scenic in the country with sandy
beach, Bass Rock, hills, gannets and puffins. On top of all this East
Lothian YC are so friendly and keen to lay on a good event which included
top race management from Race Officers Ted Hill and Jim Sinclair. After
having had three quality races on Saturday in a good force 3-4 in bright
sunshine with rapid turn arounds and the club gives every competitor an
ice cream as you pull the boat up the slip you know you have arrived on
planet happy.
Watersports photographer Nick Kirk also had a very happy event; with his
waterproof digital camera he took some fantastic shots which he displayed
on a big screen in the evening. He then kept the fleet entertained with
his unusual antics including wearing a survival suit on Sunday and
swimming around the leeward mark to get the best action shots from
different angles as the 400 fleet descended on mass!! A man dedicated
indeed. Hopefully he got the shot of Nick Craig getting his pole stuck in
the netting over the leeward mark and having to send his crew onto the
foredeck to break free, entertainment of the highest order.
RS200s
The message about how good a venue North Berwick was had got home with a
doubling of the RS200 fleet from last year with a good quality fleet of
28 boats really revelling in the conditions. The air in North Berwick
obviously did wonders for the Bristol Corinthian pair, Ian Pickard and
Pete Vincent who turned in a pretty awesome display to record a 1.2
overall; with Craig Burlton they really dominated the event. The trend
was really set by race 2. Ian Pickard and Laurie Dunn had already won
race 1 and shot straight into the lead in race 2. Pete Vincent and Trudie
Danbury were never more than two boat lengths behind but just could not
get through whilst Craig Burlton and Claire Upton-Brown were a constant
threat in third.
Pickard/Dunn had boat speed to burn and won the event with a race to
spare with a score of 1.1.2.2. For a very happy virgin Pickard this was
his first ever Open Meeting victory and it will surely not be his last if
he maintains this form. Vincent and Danbury put their boat on the water
for the first time on Saturday and after sorting out a few small problems
recorded 2.1.3.1 in the next four races to ensure a Bristol 1.2. The
fleet was re-assured that this would not be repeated again as with a bit
more time attempts would be made to tune the boat!!! Burlton and Upton
Brown, third at the 2001 RS200 Nationals, were always right at the front
and a consistent score of 2.3.3.1.4 left them well clear in third
overall. Eurocup winner in Carnac, Ollie Holden and Sarah Freestone were
not at their best on Saturday but had a good Sunday to claim fourth
overall. Mike Saul and Sophie Hartley looked like they had a real flyer
in race 4 to lead from start to finish but had been to keen at the start
and had to settle for fifth overall.
The front five were clear overall on points but there were many good
performances behind. Ripon sailors Andrew and Eve Hartley had some
explosive starts and top results of 5.6.8 to claim sixth overall. Just
behind was a group of Scottish boats who had obviously benefited from the
recent RS Association-supported training weekend led by Steve Dunn. In
7th place, Katie Masterson and Fiona Foulkes was first Scottish boat and
showed they really could mix it with the leading boats with two 5th
places. In 8th place was Richard and Val Evans who had a long trip, even
living in Scotland, as they sail at Channory SC some 30 miles north of
Inverness. Mention must also be made of Douglas/ Kirsty Hamilton from
Loch Tummell and Kirsty/Sandy McSeveney of St Marys Loch who were first
and second at the first mark in the last race before giving way to the
usual suspects.
1 Ian Pickard Laurie Dunn Bristol Corinthian YC 728 1 1 2 2 6 6
2 Pete Vincent Trudie Doris Danbury Bristol CYC 777 4 2 1 3 1 7
3 Craig Burlton Claire Upton-Brown HISC 637 2 3 3 1 4 9
4 Ollie Holden Sarah Freestone Hayling Island 741 3 6 7 4 3 16
5 Mike Saul Sophie Hartley Ripon & Grimwith 762 5 4 4 26 5 18
6 Andrew Hartley Eve Hartley Ripon 710 11 5 6 8 16 30
7 Katie Masterson Fiona Foulkes St Mary's Loch SC 544 12 13 5 5 15 35
8 Richard Evans Val Evans Chanonry SC 516 8 8 9 12 10 35
9 Graeme Henry Shone Redpath St Mary's Loch SC 661 9 11 10 14 8 38
10 Steve Dunn Dottie Cormack Stewartby WSC 696 7 26 26 7 2 42
11 Ian S Smith Nikki Smith Ripon SC 766 6 12 12 13 13 43
12 Karen Baker Laura Woosey Tynemouth SC 345 18 14 16 6 9 45
13 Gavin Marshall Nicholas Marshall St Marys Loch 314 13 7 8 19 18 46
14 Kirsty McSeveney Sandy McSeveney St Mary's Loch 689 16 17 19 9 7 49
15 Dave Milner Debra Raynolds Bradford on Avon SC 676 15 9 11 16 19 51
16 Keith Cuthbert Catriona Dalrymple Dalgety SC 302 14 16 13 15 14 56
17 Douglas Hamilton Kirsty Hamilton Loch Tummel 444 17 15 15 17 11 58
18 David Redpath Anna Rewz St Mary's Loch SC 683 19 22 21 11 17 68
19 Euan Dunn Angela Murphy Loch Lomond 723 10 10 26 26 26 72
20 Tor Mucklow Eli Henderson RNLYC 774 24 26 26 10 12 72
21 Jonathan ThompsonRosemary ThompsonRipon SC 321 21 20 14 18 22 73
22 Andy Young Sam Young Scaling Dam SC 379 20 18 18 21 26 77
23 Peter Craggs Ronnie Carter York Railway ISC310 22 19 17 26 20 78
24 David Murphy Julie Greenland Scaling Dam SC 450 25 21 20 20 21 82
25 Jonathan Briggs Amy Holland Winsford 446 23 23 22 22 26 90
26 Pete Birrell Brenda Renz St Mary's Loch 453 26 26 23 23 23 95