Full Report on Circuit Event at HYC/TBYC, 1/2 Sep 01

Thorpe Bay YC and Halfway YC laid on a storming GUL RS Racing Circuit event on the weekend of Sept 1st/2nd. 120 boats in six classes split evenly between the two clubs, with top quality race management in good breezes with the overall winners of the GUL RS Racing Circuit still to be decided in four of the classes. The clubs and the RS Association had also of course organised a minor sporting event to watch in the evening!! A combination of a great days racing, a 5-1 scoreline, an early start to the drinking produced a major party with a fantastic atmosphere. If you were at Thorpe Bay/Halfway for the weekend you will always remember where you were when that scoreline is mentioned. Wind for Saturday was a force 3 from the west, a major shift at the start of race 2 gave the race teams many an anxious moment but they sensibly postponed and let the wind settle again. Sunday saw more breeze, which gave excellent racing in a force 4. The race teams really showed how to manage multi fleets, the 400's and 800's never knew the other fleet was there even though they were running off the same committee boat. Races were turned around in such quick order that many boats went back ashore with their choc-bars untouched. There has been some debate in recent months about multi fleet/split site events; anyone who was at Thorpe Bay/Halfway surely had their answer to how successful these events can be. RS200 The success of this event on shore was matched by close and exciting racing on the water for the 30 boat RS200 fleet. Tom Hewitson sailed with Emma Carveth on Saturday (to spare the efforts of expectant wife Jo until Sunday) and earned an enviable scoreline of 1,2,1. Behind them, consistency was more elusive, with the next four teams separated by only a few points. Steve Dunn and Lucy Davy lay second with 8,1 4, just ahead of Ian Pickard and Laurie Dunn with 2, 4, 9 and Martin Wadhams and Amanda Davies with 4, 10, 2. But if it looked like it was in the bag for the Hewitsons, a surprise was in store. Pickard / Dunn had a great day in the slightly stronger winds on Sunday, and with 1,2 scores in the opening races against the Hewitson�s 2, 5 the gap had closed. Colin Stait and Sam Byron were also enjoying a good day having claimed 5,1. A port biased start for the final race; all the runners and riders pushing hard for the perfect start at the pin and then a mistimed timed tack onto port into their path by a hapless team, left the Hewitsons and several others parked and forced to gybe around to start behind the whole fleet. Pickard / Dunn escaped cleanly a little further up the line and at the windward mark the writing was on the wall. Dunn / Davy pulled through to lead narrowly from Pickard / Dunn (needle match within the Dunn family) in second and the Hewitson�s at the back of the fleet. But after grinding back through the pack, Tom & Jo had a great penultimate beat, gained one more place rounding the windward mark and picked a gust from heaven to overtake two more crucial boats right at the downwind finish, to secure the event in dramatic fashion. Next stop is the Inlands at Grafham, where a huge turnout and some intense competition is expected. Overall Results 1st Tom & Jo Hewitson 2nd Ian Pickard & Laurie Dunn 3rd Steve Dunn & Lucy Davy 4th Colin Stait & Sam Byron 5th Jonathon Lewis & Paula Corridor 6th Martin Wadhams & Amanda Davies RS300 Race 1 started with the fleet split over the inshore less tide option against the out into the tide option. The tide paid for the only time in the day leaving Will Gulliver (current national champion) leading from Cliffe Shaw. 2 reaches & a run later and on the second beat Steve Cook (Hill Head SC) took the inshore route and significantly reduced the margin between the leading 2 and the following pack. So at the second windward mark it was Gulliver from Shaw with Cook tucked in neatly behind. On the downwind legs Cook passed Shaw but Gulliver pulled out a comfortable lead which he held to the finish. Meanwhile in the pack Grahame Sanderson anticipated the shift on the final reach into the finish and planed into 4th place ahead of the rest of the pack who were fetching towards the finish line. Race 2 started in a little more wind but the fleet had all decided that inshore held all the benefits. On the first beat Will Gulliver again lead around the first mark with Grahame Sanderson, invigorated from his impressive finish in race 1, taking the bull by the horns and rounding second. Grahame proceeded to dog Will's every move downwind and was close behind at the first leeward mark. At this point with a rush of blood or adrenaline to the head Grahame tacked off at the leeward mark into the tide and was promptly overtaken by Cook and the rest of the fleet. Will went on to record his second victory of the day followed by Cook and a rapidly improving Sanderson. Race 3 was a quick sprint to get back before the tide dropped to far. Will again lead at the windward mark this time followed by Shaw who was later overtaken by Cook at the end of the run. Sunday dawned with more wind and bigger waves Race 4 was started with the majority of the fleet heading out of the channel. Will Gulliver revelled in the stronger winds and tighter reaches to open out a big lead at the bottom of the first lap. Cook again moved up the fleet from an indifferent start to come second with Cliffe Shaw coming third. Race 5 and Race 6 saw more of the same exciting conditions, with Will Gulliver leaving the water to catch up on some well needed sleep! This left the field open for Steve Cook, closely followed by Cliff Shaw. Some close racing in excellent, varied conditions. Overall Results 1st Will Gulliver Oxford 5 points 2nd Steve Cook Hill Head 9 points 3rd Cliff Shaw Stokes Bay 15 points RS400 In typical RS400 style the whole years GUL RS Racing Circuit went down to the last beat of the last race of the final event of the year. Going into the Halfway YC GUL RS Racing Circuit event on Sept 1/2 Craig Burlton/Andrew Bonsey were leading with a 2.2.2.3 scoreline and 9pts. Roger Gilbert/James Stewart with 1.3.4.4 and 12 pts could catch Burlton/Bonsey but had to win at Halfway to do so. A good sized fleet of 33 boats; the highest entry so far for an RS400 event on the East Coast, gathered at the unusually early time of 11.00 for the first race of a Racing Circuit event. Burlton/Bonsey found the conditions to their liking and got off to the best possible start by winning the race. Rookie Race Officer, Bob "Arkie" Wainwright had a very nervous lead into race 2 as the wind shifted North West, but the wind soon settled back to the west allowing two really good races to be held in quick order. The Gilbert/Stewart team really got into forward gear; they got the better of the Prince Brothers in race 2 to win. Then they demolished the fleet in race 3, in the lead on the first beat against the tide they disappeared downwind. Due to tide constraints the fleet went ashore at 14.30 having completed three good quality races with a total of 17 minutes not racing. Pinching themselves, the fleet spent a gentle afternoon in the Halfway pub in anticipation of a boring 0-0 draw in Germany. It was a delirious fleet that joined the all the other RS classes in mass celebration of the 5-1 result quickly followed by a very large party. The masses camping at Thorpe Bay were woken up on Sunday morning by a strong breeze quickly followed by the realisation they had major headaches. Luckily come start time the wind had moderated to leave an excellent force 4 from the west. Gilbert/Stewart were in fine form and won races 4 and 5 to seal overall victory with a race to spare. Burlton/Bonsey were just second overall at this point, one point ahead of Chris Jennings/Ed Nicklin and just holding on to overall victory on the GUL RS Racing Circuit. For the final race James "snogger" Stewart took over the helm and the fleet had to suffer the fact that he led for a short period. James later commented that Roger's spinnaker work did leave a lot to be desired!! The final race was indeed eventful, there was a long beat against the tide and the fleet concertina-ed at every leeward mark with numerous place changes. Chris Jennings finally settled the argument to win the race. Charlie Duchesne/Dan Sanders had a purple period in the middle of the race to claim second whilst the Prince brothers gained third. Burtlon/Bonsey had occupied most places between first and sixth during the race but finished fourth. This was to prove crucial, Jennings/Nicklin claimed second overall by a point from Burlton/Bonsey. After a fantastic final GUL RS Racing Circuit event at Halfway YC Gilbert/Stewart and Burlton/Bonsey were tied on 9pts overall on the GUL RS Racing Circuit. Gilbert/Stewart won the title having won two events. The prize giving for the GUL RS Eurocup and Racing Circuit will be held on the Saturday night of the RS Inland Championships at Grafham Water on Oct 6/7. Hope my liver will have recovered by then! Overall 1st Roger Gilbert/Stewart Frencham Pond 7pts 2nd Chris Jennings/Ed Nicklin Burghfield 11pts 3rd Craig Burlton/Andy Bonsey Northampton 12pts 4th Colin Prince/Tony Prince Weirwood 18pts 5th Charlie Duchesne/Dan Sanders RORC 30pts 6th Greg O�Brien/Nichole Johnson Sutton 37pts RS600 The final Gul RS racing circuit moved to Thorpe Bay with 29 competitors being greeted by superb wind and good racing. Race 1 got away earlier than expected which nearly caught some of the late arrivers out. The race got away cleanly with the majority of the boats playing the shifts up the middle of the beat. Four boats, led by Brian Greensmith, went hard right to come out clear of the rest of the fleet. James McIntosh and Howard Enkel both from Stone Sailing Club led the chasing pack. They soon pulled through with James taking an unassailable lead while Brian hung onto third. Race two was a similar story but this time James led from start to finish by a large margin with Howard in second and Anthony York getting a third. The third race belonged to another Stone Sailing Club member, Richard Smith, who was closely followed by the local sailor Tony Phillips and Andrew Peak in third. Overnight James had the lead with an inconsistent score line, 1,1,8, but Andrew Peake, with much more consistency, was in second. Day two, race four and the wind had piped up which led to another convincing bullet for Richard Smith with Matt Humphreys showing good pace in second. Andrew Peake was in third and following this race took a 2, 1 score line. This caused a nail biting finish as James McIntosh went for consistency getting a 4,3,4 score line. In the last race James had to finish fourth or better as Andrew had a convincing lead, James just did this as he pulled through the fleet after a poor start. This left them tied on points but James won on count back. There was the same situation between Anthony York and Tony Phillips for 3rd and 4th. Anthony got third and tied up the Gul Travellers Series. This event demonstrated the true strength of the Stone Sailing Club 600 fleet with 10 of them at the meeting, winning all but two races as well as having the overall event winner. Overall Results 1st James McIntosh Stone 13 points 2nd Andrew Peake 13 points 3rd Anthony York Northampton 22 points RS700 Carl Vining dominated the event with six straight wins. Danny Clark came second, retiring from the last race to go to a birthday party. Eddy Gatehouse brought up the rear of the 3 entered boats and is getting to grips rapidly with his new boat. Race two saw Danny take the lead briefly on lap 3 after Carl mistakenly decided to head for the finish line. On Sunday the wind against tide and strong breeze made for some interesting downwind legs especially whilst threading a path through the RS400 fleet. It turned out to be a great weekend, which would have been even better if a few more 700s had been there. Get along to the Inlands at Grafham on 6/7 October. Overall 1st Carl Vining DWSL 5 points 2nd Danny Clark Thorpe Bay YC 10 points 3rd Eddie Gatehouse Chichester YC 14 points RS800 A slightly reduced fleet (due to a the presence of the Red Bull Tide Ride on the same weekend) of 17 RS800s arrived at Halfway Yacht Club to sun and a Force 3 for the final event in the GUL RS Racing Circuit - the circuit title still up for grabs. With an earlier than usual start due to tide constraints, the fleet took to the water at 10:30 for 3 races back to back. What appeared a steady breeze before the start was soon to catch people out with large shifts and set a pattern for the day with lots of place changing in Race 1. Paddy Gamble, sailing with new crew Martin Frary, mastered the conditions to take the win, followed in by Steve Irish and Martin Gotrel in second and Paul Jenkins and Colin Hatton in third. A fast turn saw the RS400 warning flag going up even before the last 800 had finished and ensured that waiting time was kept to a minimum. Race 2 got underway and this time saw Mike Lennon and Emma White picking the shifts well to win from Lee Sydenham and Anne Vaudry with Gamble/Frary coming in third and showing the consistency which was to see them leading overnight. Another fast turnaround into Race 3 and this time it was the turn of Spod Olive and Mike Warren to pick the shifts and sail off into an unassailable lead (although at times nerve wracking as the wind died tacking for windward mark). A tight reach across the bottom of the final trapezoid saw several place changes with Ian Jubb and Lesley Bennett taking second and Irish/Gotrel powering over the top of Gamble/Frary and Sydenham/Vaudry to clinch third on the line. Results overnight showed 3 different race winners and 7 people with a top 3 result, leaving it all to play for on day 2. Day 2 dawned with headaches and the prospect of a bit more breeze on the water. Following more help with launching and the trolleys from the Halfway members (excellent the whole weekend), Race 4 was started in a slightly steadier (although still shifty) Force 4 and it was this time the turn of Matt (40 at the end of the month) and Geoff Larkin to take the lead from Irish/Gotrel, the two of them opening a comfortable margin on the fleet. Things behind were tight until the last windward with Sydenham/Vaudry eventually opening a gap to take 3rd after a pitchpole on the hoist by Gamble/Frary (hangover induced?). In Race 5, Lennon/White sailed a storming first beat to round well clear of the pack, a position which they held to the finish despite a strong charge from Sydenham/Vaudry on the last lap. Jenkins/Hatton clinched 3rd with Gamble/Frary following home in 4th and Olive/Warren rounding out the top 5. This left the event open going into the last race. A one-sided beat due to the tide saw Irish/Gotrel open a substantial lead after port-tacking the fleet and take the race win and also the event by one point from Sydenham/Vaudry who sailed hard to recover to 2nd from a poor start. Jenkins/Hatton again showed their consistency to take another 3rd. Overall, an excellent event with rookie Race Officer Arkie providing good courses and a fast turnaround on the water, the clubs providing the great atmosphere and party we are now coming to expect each year, and a fitting conclusion to the GUL RS Racing Circuit for 2001. Overall results 1st Steve Irish/Martin Gotrel Draycote 13 points 2nd Lee Sydenham/AnneVaudry HTSC 14 points 3rd David Gamble/Martin Fray Lee on Solent 17 points 4th Spod Olive/Mille Warren Weston 21 points