United Kingdom
United Kingdom

Contact us



Class Association

×

Gul RS National Championships 2002 - Day 5 Report

See Y&Y website for full results. RS300 Following yesterdays mission, the final chapter concluded with bright sunshine and a building sea breeze, boding well for the three scheduled races. Race 8 once again saw Steve Cockerill lead the fleet around the course, closely followed by Phil Davies and Ian Baillie, whose positions swapped frequently before Ian managed to squirt ahead. Steve Bolland continued his run of good form to sweep home in fourth place, just ahead of Will Gulliver, and brother Nick. Matt Sargent saw his previous good work come to grief as he finished a disappointing 7th, leading to an increase in tension for the fight for second place. Race 9 started in the same conditions, with the light westerly winds still causing troubles for the heavier helms. Phil Davies caused some relief for the fleet by threatening an early upset after taking the lead, only to see Steve Cockerill once more adopt his customary position at the head, and Ian Baillie sail past him on the beat, after following one of the small wind shifts. Steve Cook caused concern for all the leaders after getting a great start, and rapidly making ground up the first beat, only to see his hopes of glory dashed, despite holding off a late challenge by Steve Bolland, who claimed fifth. This proved to be one of the closest races of the event, with all 15 boats finishing within minutes, and places being swapped regularly. The final race of the National Championships saw the fleet sprint off of the line, only to see that the leaders had jumped the gun, and were over. Will Gulliver, and Steve Cockerill both threaded their ways back through the fleet to recross, only to see the flag stay up, causing concern throughout the fleet. Phil Davies took advantage of the confusion to open a lead up, being closely chased by Matt Sargent, Steve Cook, and Jamie Mawson. As the fleet wended their way around the course, Steve Cockerill mounted a valiant charge to keep his unbeaten record, managing to fight his way up to second place by the end, although being unable to catch Phil. Will Gulliver charged through to take fifth place from the chasing Jamie Mawson, and Ian Baillie. Steve Cockerill had proved to be a worthy National Champion once again, although the rapidly growing RS300 fleet had been able to cause one or two scares, and all commented on the continued excellence of the racing. RS400 Strong sunshine quickly burnt off the thin clouds over Weymouth Bay this morning and the fleet launched with high expectation of a good sea breeze. Right on cue a light sea breeze carried the fleet out to the race area to allow battle to commence for the overall honours on what was to prove a tense and tight fight. Gilbert/Stewart had been overall leaders throughout the event but a dodgy fourth day had left Carveth/Greaves and Burlton/Bonsey in striking distance. Race 9 started in a force 2-3 from the southwest with crews just sitting out up wind. The three main contenders all made good gate starts and arrived together at the first mark. Carveth just led from Gilbert with Burlton a boat length behind. Burlton gybed off early and split away from Gilbert who was getting the better of the tussle with Carveth. When the three came back together approaching the leeward mark Burlton had taken the better line and led from Gilbert and Carveth. Despite constant pressure these positions were held to the finish. Gilbert and Stewart now had 13 pts with their best discard of 9th, Carveth/Greaves had 19 pts needing to be second or better with Gilbert worse than 9th to claim overall victory. Burlton/Bonsey were now out of the overall victory equation despite winning the race with now 23pts. The lead into the start of race 10 saw Gilbert shadowing Carveth to try and prevent a clean start. In the event he failed and Carveth had a useful position half way up the first beat whilst Gilbert was struggling well out of contention. Carveth rounded the windward mark 15th with Gilbert floundering in mid fleet. Carveth now set off in a determined charge to gain places whilst Gilbert could only watch and hope. At the front Simon Potts/Alan Woosey had led but Neil and Paul Freeman had real downwind boat speed to take the lead with Robin Kenyon/Toby Lewis equally impressive moving through to second. Carveth made real gains on the second run, rounding the opposite leeward mark to all the other leaders to great advantage jumping to 8th. With the Freemans and Kenyon/Lewis looking very secure in first and second it looked very unlikely Carveth was going to gain the vital result he needed and so it was to prove when his valiant effort gave him a 5th place at the finish. This gave Roger Gilbert and James Stewart their third RS400 National Championship title in a row but this time by only two points. The weather had been kind the to the RS400’s allowing all races to be held on their allotted days. The Race Management had been first class with true courses and great starting procedure. RS600 To follow
 
 
Privacy Policy | Developed and Supported by YorkSoft ltd