Gul RS700 National Champs, Day 2

RS700 There were a few more grins around the boat park after racing today, as opposed to the sheer exhaustion and dehydration of yesterday. 15-20 knots and flat water meant fast and furious racing with sleigh ride downwind legs. Neil Robinson flew up the first leg of race 1 before past RS600 champ, Gareth Morgan, worked the shifts well to lead from nowhere. Big shifts were the order of the day, and Neil was able to use them downwind to take Gareth just before the finish, with Paul Bayliss recovering to third following some mid race blues. In contrast, Race 2 suffered just one major shift with just a few minutes gone, and Bayliss took advantage of this to best effect to hold a healthy lead at the top mark, chased by Andy White and Neil Robinson. There on in, the race was fast and fun, but also fairly uneventful, as there was only really one way to go. Robinson overhauled White downwind, in what is becoming his trademark pattern and is going to make him a favourite to retain his title. Overall now and with one discard, Robinson leads by 2 points from Bayliss, with last nights leader Jason Belben not going so well in the stronger winds, scoring 7 and 11 today. Just behind him are Andy White, Carl Vining (who scored two 4ths today), Nick Peters, and Pete Barton. Any of this group could still make the grade in the final analysis, and with the same wind forecast for tomorrow, there�s lots more fun to be had too.