Results / Gul National Championships East Lothian YC - 09/08/2004

DAY 5, the concluding story. Day 5 at the GUL RS200 National Championships was a truly remarkable day of sailing which produced probably the closest every finish overall possible. But more of that later. Many started the day a little bleary eyed after the successful Cowboy and Indian karaoke theme night further confused by the fact that there was not fog shrouding the dinghy park. In fact as brain cells started to work it dawned on people that there was a funny round, hot, yellow thing in the sky; something not seen since arriving on Saturday. Then sensation, looking out to sea we could see all the islands and then Norway came into view, well actually the north shore of the Firth of Forth some 12 miles away but it felt like Norway having not seen land in that direction for 6 days. So the fleet launched into the jolly pleasant conditions of sunshine, clear blue skies and a 10-12 knot breeze from the north east ready to do battle for the final overall positions. In keeping with 10 days of easterlies the size of the sea exceeded the strength of the wind requiring crews to work hard and concentrate at all times. Race 8 was opened with defending champions David Giles/Fiona Clark as pathfinder needing a special day to defend their title. They got off to the best possible start leading at mark 1 with BCYC’s finest Trudie Danbury/Graeme Ryder second. Unfortunately for Giles/Clark, Geoff Carveth/Jane Willan and Sydenham/Vaudrey were in the leading pack and the pair moved through to second and third on lap 2. Carveth closed right up on Giles as they approached the final leeward gate; Carveth appeared to think there was an extra lap and headed for the right hand buoy whilst Giles rounded the left buoy and headed for the finish line. Carveth quickly recovered but Sydenham just gained water to claim second, Carveth third and Lewis/Parsons fourth. With 8 races now completed a second discard came into play and Carveth’s lead over Sydenham was down to 3 points. Race 9 saw a very even break on the gate with pathfinder Steve Dunn/Rachel Jones just leading from early starter Carveth, very late starter Pete Vincent/ Eluned Jones third and early starter Sydenham fourth. These leading four pulled well clear in a close tussle with Dunn swapping the lead with Carveth throughout. The final run started with Carveth 2 boat lengths ahead of Dunn with Sydenham a further two boat lengths behind. Carveth was the first to gybe on to port allowing Dunn and Sydenham to work the right of centre. When they gybed they had better pressure and as they approached the final leeward gate the race was between Dunn and Sydenham. Sydenham/Vaudrey had water on Dunn at the final mark but were approaching on a very broad angle; as they rounded Dunn nearly sailed through to leeward with higher speed. On the 100 yard close reach to the finish Sydenham had the height and used a wave to get over Dunn to win by half a bow sprit. The Race Officer had just enough time under the Sailing Instructions to start the tenth race and complete a full schedule. Carveths lead was now only one point and it promised to be a tense race. The first five boats out of the gate, Jon Lewis, Carveth, Hewitsons, Danbury and Sydenham were the first five round the windward. Sydenham was the first to gybe on the run and soaked down over the leading boats to take the lead. Carveth knew that Sydenham would have to cover so tried to lead his rival onto the unfavoured side of the beat and run allowing Lewis to close. The final run started with Sydenham just in the lead from Lewis and Carveth. Sydenham followed Carveth out to the right as Lewis gybed early. As the boats came back together it was clear Lewis had gained and he took the winning gun from Sydenham. The teams of Carveth/Willan and Sydenham/Vaudrey were unclear who had won and ashore initially each thought the other had won. In fact they were tied on 19pts and had the same number of first places, also the same number of seconds, the same number of thirds and the same number of fourths. The next tie break to be used was who beat who in the most number of races, a five all draw. So it went down to the final tie break, who beat who in the final race they both counted. This was the final race and Sydenham/Vaudrey were GUL RS200 2004 National Champions as they finished second to Carveths and Williams third. Sydenham/Vaudrey were very worthy winners but it was tough on Carveth/Willan who were sailing together for the first time. East Lothian YC were quite rightfully congratulated on running such a great championship even if the weather at time had not played ball. They were remarkably friendly hosts and had two great race teams. At least on the final day we all could see what a picturesque coastline we had been sailing along. Paul and Sharon Plestead won the Silver Division, Douglas and Kathy Hamilton the Bronze Division, Ben Lister was first Youth Helm, Jackie and Josie Gebhard won the Family Prize, Sophie Hartley was first Junior crew, Bristol Corinthian were Top Club. Perhaps performance of the week was Sarah Allen/Elaine Turner winning the very hotly contested Lady Helm prize but also finishing 11th overall in her first nationals as a helm. It’s the other end of the country next year for the GUL RS200 Nationals next year, hosted by Highcliffe SC. Book your holiday now and bring your calculators, its going to be fun and close. Pete Vincent. Day 4 After a very frustrating day on Wednesday looking at very poor visibility, no racing and numerous requests for redress from the previous days race 3 when the spreader mark went walkabout it was a huge relief to get back to proper racing. Early signs were not clever with fog hiding the islands; a 3 hour delay allowed some serious putting green competition but by 14.00 visibility was good and a good 14- 17 knot breeze from the east welcomed the fleet as they launched with a fair sized sea still running. Race 5 and a familiar scene greeted the fleet as the first beat opened; Geoff Carveth/Jane Willan crossing everybody having started early. They then pulled out a good lead leaving quite a tussle behind for the minor places. David Giles/Fiona Clark finished second just ahead of John Greenland/Pippa Williams and Steve Dunn/Rachel Jones. Race 6 and Sarah Allen/Elaine Turner flew into the first mark to lead at the first mark. They gybed to early on the first run and lost out to the pack that stayed further right. Lee Sydenham/Anne Vaudrey had a very healthy lead at the first leeward gate and powered away to win by a good margin from Tom/Jo Hewitson, James Stewart/Sam Littlejohn and Jon Lewis/Milly Parsons. With such a good breeze set the Race Officer pushed on and started race 7 with pathfinder John Greenland/Pippa Williams just leading round mark 1 from a big pack. Mike Saul/Sophie Hartley led for a lap but could not hold the Irish charge as Marshall and Heather King gained an impressive win from Saul/Hartley second, Allen/Turner sailing an impressive series in third and Lewis/Parsons fourth. Carveth/Willan with a 7th and 5th in the last two races now hold a 7 point lead overall although with the potential of 3 more races on the final day the chasing 3 boats still could still win. Day 3 Thick Sea Fog Causes all racing to be abandoned… The fleet awoke this morning to the sight of North Berwick clouded in thick fog. Principal Race Officer Jim Sinclair postponed racing and despite the weather onshore clearing up - with sun glasses and shorts order of the day- the scene out to sea failed to improve. At 2 o’clock Jim Sinclair took the difficult decision to abandon racing for the day. The series continues with three races scheduled for the next two days but the earlier start time of 11:30 is not proving popular with some awesome socials planned for the next two days. Day 1 94 RS200’s were “treated” to a most erratic day of weather on the first day of the GUL RS200 National Championships hosted by East Lothian YC in North Berwick 16 miles east of Edinburgh. Everybody had been practicing the previous two days in 15-20 knots of breeze from the east which had produced big rolling waves. The fleet launched into what looked a decent south east breeze but heavy rain not only made finding the committee boat tricky but killed the wind. Race 1 though started after only a short delay in 12 knots of wind but with the town hidden under slate grey clouds. Geoff Carveth and Jane Willian were flying up the first beat and survived in the lead when the wind became very light on the first run with big rolling waves. With the wind filling back in very unevenly, disappearing, reappearing for the next two laps the front of the fleet closed right up. Carveth/Willan still led at the start of the final run but Lee Sydenham/ Anne Vaudrey appeared to gain the early advantage by sinking lower. A number of boats gybed very early and John Greenland/Pippa Williams found good pressure to take the lead. Tom and Jo Hewitson hung out on the port side longer and took full advantage of new pressure to jump from sixth to first at the finish with Greenland/Williams second, Sydenham/Vaudrey third and Carveth/Willan fourth. The weather now became truly gruesome with a huge downpour and zero visibility; ideal for sitting around in. It was still raining when race 2 started but at least we had a vague idea of where the windward mark was. Mercifully there was decent 15 knot breeze which stayed very constant throughout the 4 lap race. Carveth/Willan again had a great first beat to just lead from defending National Champions David Giles/Fiona Clark and Jon Lewis/Milly Parsons. Carveth again led for three more laps but could not shake off the chasing pack. Sarah Allen/Elaine Turner had been making steady progress from a first mark rounding of 9th and Sarah was in good position to attack her boyfriends lead on the last half of the final beat. The last two gybes into the final leeward mark saw her grab the inside berth and a very sweet victory with Carveth having to settle for second. Ian Pickard/Noelle Vidal had also made good progress and a star final run saw them grab third from Sydenham/Vaudrey. Carveth/Willan have the early advantage, a point ahead of Sydenham/Vaudrey but a lot is going to happen in the next few days. The weather has a few more tricks to play and there is huge depth in this fleet. Day 2 The word awesome can be over used when it comes to sailing conditions but believe me the second day of the GUL RS200 Nationals at North Berwick was a truly an awesome day. It may still be have been a very grey day, although with no rain but a spanking 18-20 knot breeze from due east gave superb waves and the sort of action downwind that will be talked about for some time. The early part of race 3 proved to be controversial. Geoff Carveth/Jane Willan led round the windward mark from a close pack but could not find the spreader mark and stayed very high. The spreader mark had in fact disappeared downwind with an anchorage problem and a RIB was trying to be the mark. Eventually everyone just popped their kites and went for a real burn although many of the leaders got carried away went passed the lay line and came back in on to tight a reach. Tom and Jo Hewitson spotted this and gybed inside the leading pack and jumped into the lead. They led for the next 3 laps with James Stewart/Sam Littlejohn in very close company. Mike Saul/Sophie Hartley took the lead for a very short period on the final run but the Hewitson’s grabbed the lead back on the final gybe to win from Saul, Jon Lewis/Milly Parsons and Stewart/Littlejohn. As this report is being written there are three protests for redress for the confusion over lack of spreader mark which could have a major bearing on results. Race 4 was opened by pathfinder Sarah Allen/Elaine Turner in 18 knots. Carveth/Willan again led but lost out on lap 2 to David Giles/Fiona Clark. In their own words the Giles/Clark team cocked it up and dropped to 5th. Carveth/Willan now made no mistake and at last won a race having led all four races for long periods. Steve Dunn/Rachel Jones sailed an excellent race to power in second with Sydenham/Vaudrey third and Lewis/Parsons fourth. There are many broken bodies recovering around the town of North Berwick but all with many a tale to tell tonight. Carveth/Willan lead overnight with 7 pts but with a whole group in close company and a lot is still going to happen in this championship.