Gul RS700 National Champs, Day 5

It was reckoning day for the 700 fleet. With any one of five boats in with a very real shout at the title, it was all to play for. And what a different day it was, with a SW 3-4 and sailing outside the harbour with a slight swell and a confused chop. In the lead was Jason Belben who had strung together a consistent series and showing devastating pace at times. Paul Bayliss was second, although stood to lose the most with the worst discard. Carl Vining had been very consistent all week and looked a real threat because he doesn�t appear to have any weaknesses in his repertoire. Andy White and Nick Peters had also had blinding days in the light winds and, as relative heavy weights were always going to be in with a shout in the stronger breezes. Andy White scored the first move of the day with speed off the line and consolidated downwind, with Paul Bayliss and Neil Robinson close behind. After another lap, Bayliss moved into the lead up and extended for a comfortable win. Robinson and White battled tooth and nail down the runs, with Robinsons supreme offwind pace eventually the telling factor, pipping White with literally yards to go. Nick Peters kept his chances alive with a 4th, and Carl Vining was also in there with a 5th. Jason Belben wasn�t relishing the breeze and the seas, posting a 7th. Could he hang on in the final race? It was down-to-the-wire time. Any one of the original 5 could in theory win, but Bayliss could make do with a top 5 to snatch the title, if any of the others won. Andy White led by a considerable margin off the line, and had boats in between him and the rest of his immediate rivals, in the name of Keith Willis and Jon Gorringe, both of whom had shown great upwind pace up the beat. However by the leeward mark, it was White, Bayliss, Robinson, Peters and Vining, all very close in that order. Nobody could afford to make a mistake and the wind was now up to a good force 4, with a lumpy sea. Downwind was made difficult, and more than one boat had a nervous moment with going faster than the waves! At the finish, White had a comfortable lead, but Bayliss had done enough in second to secure the title by 4 points from White. Neil Robinson followed in 3rd, knowing that but for a couple of unlucky races and gear failure, he had had the pace and skill to retain his title, but unfortunately finished in 6th overall. Nick Peters finished in 4th place to take 3rd on a tie break from Carl Vining, impressive since Nick has been away for most of the summer, and only got back into a 700 a few weeks ago. After 10 races held in a variety of conditions, and in-the-main superb weather, it is fair to say that there was no supreme victor, just superb, close racing with very evenly matched high performance single handers. And how do you beat that?