Results / Winter Championships Carsington SC - 08/02/2003

GUL RS200 WINTER CHAMPIONSHIPS, CARSINGTON SC � It�s never over �til the fat lady sings. A fantastic turnout of 41 boats made the trip to Derbyshire for the first visit by an RS fleet to Carsington SC for the GUL RS200 Winter Championships. The fleet included boats that had travelled from Penzance and Dublin!! The Club did an excellent job of organising the event with a very friendly atmosphere and some top race management, which saw very good courses, and rapid turn arounds. Someone should have turned the heaters on as it was cold but a very lively wind kept the crews very active. Saturday saw 2 races in a force 3-4, which slowly dropped for the third race. Sunday was full on with force 4-5 regularly rising to force 5- 6 as lumps of wind hit the fleet; usually in gybe corner, giving some spectacular downwind action. The event was in all reality totally dominated by two boats. RS400 National Champion crew for the last three years, James Stewart bought a RS200 in December and for his first outing he thought he would get his 400 helm, Roger Gilbert to crew. This led to much pre race leg pulling and there was still much light hearted banter when the dynamic duo just led round the first mark. They then very rudely disappeared into the distance in a cloud of spray to win by a mile. Most others leading contender�s egos put this down to them getting a lucky patch of wind on the first run but James repeated the story in the second race to again win by a mile. By the time they survived a very patchy first run in the third race to still lead the fleet knew they had been white washed with a Stewart/Gilbert score of 1.1.1. David Giles and Fiona Clark had been the only other consistent performer with a 2.2.3.scoreline. Ashore most crews wanted to lynch Roger for causing them so much grief by straight leg hiking his way up all the beats. Sunday, and it seemed that the only thing that had changed was an increase in the wind, as Stewart /Gilbert won the first race of the day in style. Their grip on the championship seemed even more secure with Giles and Clark collecting an OCS. The fifth race was a really close race. Stewart/Gilbert were leading again but with several boats pressing. Giles/Clark took advantage of a big gust to sail over the duo; almost in shock at being overtaken for the first time in the weekend Stewart/Gilbert capsized in the ensuring gybe battle for the layline. Giles/Clark won with Stewart 6th. Stewart seemed to have sorted that blip out by leading the final race with 2 laps to go. But the expression �it�s not over �til the fat lady sings� really came to mind when the outhaul clew on their main pulled out leaving the main un-attached to the boom. Giles/Clark had won the battle for second place and suddenly found themselves in first. With Stewart unable to finish Giles and Clark score of 2.2.3.2.1.1 gave them the championship by one point. The domination of the leading two was shown by the fact that they were 14pts clear of Pete Vincent/Elly Haines in third overall. Vincent and Craig Burlton had prepared well for the event by adopting the text book rule of having crews that had never sailed 200s and with whom they had never sailed. Obviously Elly Haines and Jodi Dyer must be top rate crews to get that pair to third and fifth overall in those circumstances. Defending Winter Champion Jon Lewis and Milly Parsons were 4th suffering from counting a 15th. Slightly lighter weight crew combinations in Ollie Holden/Sarah Freestone and Cliff/Bec Millner scored some notable results in the breezier conditions to claim 6th and 7th overall. First youth Andy Robertson/Emily Howarth sailed a storming last race to finish second and 12th overall. If 41 boats travel to the Winter Championships in early February then the RS200s are going to have a bumper season when the Fat Face circuit starts at Bristol CYC on March 15/16.