40 RS200's descended upon Parkstone Yacht Club in Poole for the second GUL Grand Prix Circuit event of the year.  We were greeted with a nice forecast for the weekend of 12-16 knots from the North East.

The first race started after the usual general recall.  (They should know us by now!).  Up the first beat a huge left shift came in putting Charlotte Savage, MJ Gifford and Chris Catt, Juliet Charles in a comfortable position at the windward mark.  These two extended down the first run in the pressure and eventually won by a good margin.  Harry and Prue Roome had an excellent race as well finishing third.

The second race started with slightly more but very shifty breeze and was to be a feature of the whole weekend.  Three boats extended on the second lap and were neck and neck on the final run.  Dave and Jane Hivey squeezed into second on the final part of the run but infringed Charlotte and MJ.  Strangely they crossed the line then realised this, re-crossed the line did a 720 and then promptly were disqualified anyway (so much for being honest hey!!).  The race therefore finished with a bullet for Pickard and Loopie with Charlotte and MJ in second and Steve Greaves/Caroline Edwards in third.

For the third race the boats were close around the first mark again, but the Hiveys' gybed off into pressure and extended to a lead that eventually topped 2 minutes.  Chris and Jules managed to fight back through the fleet to second with Tom Morris and Emma Porteous rounding off the top three.

The sailors then made the long trip back to shore and were greeted by an excellent curry put on by the sailing club, closely followed by as usual,more beers than we should have really been drinking.  Ugly assumed his position by the bar and to his credit managed to not leave till closing.

Sunday morning arrived with the promise of another good days racing.  Indeed it would be similar to Saturday with huge shifts being the predominant tactical factor.  The usual suspects arrived at the windward mark after navigating through the shifty first beat.  The Hiveys again disappeared downwind (very unusual for them!) to another comfortable victory with the rest of the fleet fighting hard in the tricky conditions with places changing constantly.  Steve and Caroline held onto second with Josh Flack and Tom Brophy showing some speed and tactical awareness to finish third.

Race 4 started after another general recall (one sailor said that he sheeted in and caused it so that he could spend longer watching the dolphins that were on the start line!!).  Chris/Jules and the Hiveys again extended and battled right to the finish where Chris and Jules outdid them on the final part of the run to seal the race victory.  Charlotte and MJ again showed their new pace to finish third.

The final race meant that the event was between Chris/Jules and the Hiveys.  Chris hunted Dave on the start hoping to start underneath him. Luckily for the Hiveys another boat jumped in the gap and gave him a clean lane to leeward.  After a great first lap battle between these two eventually the Hiveys extended to take the race and the event.  Paul Lewis also had an excellent race, finishing third and not far behind the top two.

The silver fleet was won by Adam McGovern/Johnny McGovern with Martin Boatman/ Sam Murphy in second (I don't think these two will be in there for long!).  The bronze Division was won by Jonny Coate and Kate Philips from Weston SC

Our thanks have to go to the OOD for setting some excellent courses in the oscillating breeze and the club for the food and hot drinks on arrival and departure each day.

An excellent weekend.