Results / RS300 Gul Inlands Northampton SC - 17/10/2009
Gul RS300 Inland Championships, 2009. Northampton Sailing Club
23 boats arrived at Northampton Sailing Club for the final RS300 event of 2009. Whilst some turned up with a night to spare, Richard Le Mare arrived in the nick of time for the briefing already wearing a damp wetsuit having had an early morning sail at Draycote in his Musto Skiff before setting off!
Saturday dawned with more breeze than expected, a healthy 10-12 knots permitting a wide range of ages (and maturity levels) to stretch their (sometimes creaky) legs. The first start seemed to catch a lot of the fleet napping, but National Champ Steve 'Fitness' Bolland (411), Andy 'Young' Ritchie (513) and Mike 'Who?' Bees (520) were quick out of the blocks. Bees was quickly in sync with the shifts and established a useful lead by the first weather mark followed at a safe distance by a squabbling Ritchie and Bolland. Bees had sufficient margin to have the choice pick of the shifts and extended on every upwind leg to win by a country mile. This made writing the report difficult as he couldn't see back far enough to be able to describe what happened behind, suffice to say that Ritchie took second followed by Bolland, Sam Sutton-Reid (514) and Paul Keeling (430). The Aldenham Synchronised Capsize Display Team, consisting of Barry 'Jake' Steel and Steve 'Elwood' Sharpe entertained the early finishers with an immaculate display at the final gybe mark complete with vocal soundtrack.
After no delay at all Race 2 started with the fleet now wide awake. Bolland and Rich 'Big Boy' Le Mare (426) fought for the pin end with Bees keeping a watching brief. An even first beat was fought out between Bolland, Le Mare, Bees, Ritchie and many others. Bolland soon established the upper hand and sailed a relatively untroubled race to take the win. Ritchie maintained second ahead of Bees until the penultimate run when Bees found a lucky puff to do a Buffalo Girls around the outside, grabbing second and not letting it go. Le Mare took fourth ahead of Paul Keeling (430).
Race 3 commenced immediately, with the pin-end fight between Bolland and Le Mare continuing. The same faces were in the mix up the first beat, joined by defending champion Ian Smith (368) and Travellers Series winner Tim Keen (328). A bunch-up down the run mixed things up, with the order at the bottom mark being Keen, Le Mare, Bees. Bolland gradually ground his way through to lead from Keen, with a titanic scrap developing for the minor places between Le Mare, Smith, Ritchie and Bees. The latter rolled all the right dice on the final beat to pull through to third, followed by Le Mare, Smith and Ritchie.
Overnight Bolland led by 1 point from Bees. An evening of beer, large platefuls of food and F1 qualifying (looking wetter than RS300 sailing in a Force 5) ensued. Some chose to stare at the large TV screen whilst others gazed wistfully, longingly and in some cases lustingly at the amply stocked bar. Ian Smith proved that if table football was an Olympic sport then the gold would be his, no arguments.
Sunday morning dawned and happy campers emerged from a variety of four-wheeled hostelries. Bolland showed signs of hypothermia having spent a chilly night in Chez Galaxy wearing only T-shirt and boxers. Our tougher Northern brothers appeared warm and happy, revelling in the tropical Midlands autumn. The wind however, having observed Smith's skill at table football, took its ball away and refused to play leaving competitors to view a glassy lake over a casual breakfast. Most went for the full-fat fry-up whilst some opted for porridge, curiously labelled 'girlie' by Bolland whose breakfast credibility rating nosedived when he was later seen tucking into a dainty bowl of Sugar Puffs. Race officer (and former RS300 champ) Will Gulliver signalled a postponement with many of the fleet fully expecting an early pack-up. However at 11am the breeze started to drift in, and the fleet was sent afloat.
A welcome 7-10knot south-westerly sprang up, somewhat gustier and shiftier than the previous day's north-easterly. At the gun Bees and Smith chose their weapons and duelled their way into the lead, ahead of Chris Morrissey (430), Bolland, Keeling and Keen. Ultimately Bees prevailed ahead of Smith, with Bolland fighting back to take 3rd from Morrissey and Keeling.
After a brief break for lunch the final race started in slightly more breeze with the sun starting to break through, warming some chilly souls who had overcooled during lunch. Going into the race Bees lead overall by 1 point from Bolland, with Bolland needing to be ahead and in the top 2 to win overall. Keen, Bees, Bolland, Ritchie and Smith were soon clear of the pack. Keen & Bees swapped the lead over & over with Bees keeping a watching eye on Bolland. On the 2nd beat Bolland hit the left hand corner without success, dropping back into the clutches of Smith and Morrissey. Next time around he clawed his way clear and closed on Bees on a big left-hand shift, however despite Bees suffering a Buttonesque attack of the yips it was too little too late for Bolland. Keen won the race with Bees second. Bolland bailed out and headed for home once the result was clear, leaving Ritchie to take third ahead of Smith and Morrissey who appeared to be enjoying Sunday rather more than Saturday.
Thus Bees was overall winner, followed by Bolland ahead of Ritchie, Keen and Smith. Le Mare was scored OCS and dropped down the order, but was last seen driving away in his wetsuit to get back to Draycote and do some more sailing!
Prizes were also awarded for the Travellers Series, won by Tim Keen who collected his own weight in wine as a just reward for his efforts and mileage.
The RS300 fleet would like to way a big thankyou to all at Northampton Sailing Club who helped to run a superbly efficient and enjoyable event.
| 1st | 12 | 520 | Mike Bees | Brightlingsea S C | 1.0 | 2.0 | (3.0) | 1.0 | 2.0 | 9.0 | 6.0 | ||
| 2nd | 3 | 411 | Steve Bolland | BCYC | 3.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | (24.0 DNF) | 32.0 | 8.0 | ||
| 3rd | 1 | 513 | Andy Ritchie | Hykeham S C | 2.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | (7.0) | 3.0 | 21.0 | 14.0 | ||
| 4th | 11 | 328 | Tim Keen | Sheffield Viking S C | 6.0 | (8.0) | 2.0 | 6.0 | 1.0 | 23.0 | 15.0 | ||
| 5th | 14 | 368 | Ian Smith | (7.0) | 7.0 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 25.0 | 18.0 | |||
| 6th | 20 | 30 | Paul Keeling | Blithfield S C | 5.0 | 5.0 | (13.0) | 5.0 | 7.0 | 35.0 | 22.0 | ||
| 7th | 23 | 426 | Richard Lemare | Draycote Water S C | 8.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 11.0 | (24.0 OCS) | 51.0 | 27.0 | ||
| 8th | 22 | 430 | Chris Morrissey | Milton Keynes S C | (14.0) | 14.0 | 12.0 | 4.0 | 5.0 | 49.0 | 35.0 | ||
| 9th | 6 | 321 | Tom Ballingall | Draycote Water S C | 10.0 | 10.0 | 8.0 | 10.0 | (17.0) | 55.0 | 38.0 | ||
| 10th | 19 | 519 | Jeff Marksz | Milton Keynes S C | (16.0) | 12.0 | 9.0 | 12.0 | 6.0 | 55.0 | 39.0 | ||
| 11th | 16 | 514 | Sam Sutton-Reid | Leigh & Lowton S C | 4.0 | 6.0 | 7.0 | (24.0 DNC) | 24.0 DNC | 65.0 | 41.0 | ||
| 12th | 8 | 365 | Dave Barker | Draycote Water S C | 9.0 | 16.0 | (17.0) | 8.0 | 8.0 | 58.0 | 41.0 | ||
| 13th | 9 | 506 | Len Metcalfe | Scaling Dam S C | 12.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 16.0 | (24.0 OCS) | 72.0 | 48.0 | ||
| 14th | 21 | 476 | Terry Brooks | Oxford S C | 11.0 | 11.0 | 14.0 | (15.0) | 14.0 | 65.0 | 50.0 | ||
| 15th | 4 | 515 | John Peters | Hykeham S C | 15.0 | 17.0 | 10.0 | (21.0) | 10.0 | 73.0 | 52.0 | ||
| 16th | 17 | 525 | Barry Steel | Aldenham S C | (24.0 DNF) | 20.0 | 15.0 | 9.0 | 12.0 | 80.0 | 56.0 | ||
| 17th | 5 | 516 | Stephen Sharpe | Aldenham S C | (22.0) | 13.0 | 18.0 | 14.0 | 13.0 | 80.0 | 58.0 | ||
| 18th | 10 | 374 | Russ Hopkins | Tewkesbury S C | 13.0 | 18.0 | (19.0) | 19.0 | 9.0 | 78.0 | 59.0 | ||
| 19th | 7 | 500 | Pete Ellis | 18.0 | (21.0) | 20.0 | 13.0 | 11.0 | 83.0 | 62.0 | |||
| 20th | 15 | 450 | Mark Henman | Sunderland S C | (17.0) | 15.0 | 16.0 | 17.0 | 15.0 | 80.0 | 63.0 | ||
| 21st | 13 | 343 | StevenDewberry | Deben Y C | 20.0 | 19.0 | (21.0) | 18.0 | 18.0 | 96.0 | 75.0 | ||
| 22nd | 2 | 440 | Luke Pepper | Hykeham S C | 19.0 | (23.0) | 23.0 | 20.0 | 16.0 | 101.0 | 78.0 | ||
| 23rd | 18 | 313 | Pete Warne | Northampton S C | 21.0 | (22.0) | 22.0 | 22.0 | 19.0 | 106.0 | 84.0 |