International Fleet takes to the water.

Gul Winter Championship

14^th -15^th February 2009

Grafham Water Sailing Club

With snow on the ground and the event clashing with valentines day and the 6 Nations rugby, it was only the truly dedicated who made the early season trek to Grafham Water for the 2009 Gul Winter Championship.  Amazingly this included two guy’s who came all the way from Germany to take part in the event and to pick the brains of the UK fleet.

The adverse forecast didn’t help and proved to be pretty accurate with zero breeze forecast and the lightest of drifts delivered.  The race management made the only sensible decision by abandoning the sailing for the day which allowed everyone to retire to the bar and enjoy the Rugby (despite England’s performance).

With four races scheduled and a consistent F2-3 blowing Sunday delivered an excellent days racing.

The first race set the scene for the day, with a very close first beat to the windward mark avoiding RS200s and 800s on the way.  Pete Purkiss arrived first, just ahead of Jon Heissig and Rob Jones.  Heissig gradually eased past for the first of three wins.  Simon Horsfield finished his first UK race in good style, beating the Class Rep and bimbling guru Ian Nolan for fifth.

The second race saw a near perfect start on the pin from Rob Jones, and he followed this up with a close scuffle around the course with Phil Dickenson and Purkiss.  A special mention has to go to the grandstand spinnaker finish of Anthony Herod, who correctly judged the angle to be tight but just possible.

A slight increase of wind provided even more fun in the third race, with Heissig clear ahead of Purkiss and Dickinson, followed by a very close tussle for fourth place with Rob Jones being covered closely by Ian Nolan, who was especially enjoying the extra breeze.

The wind eased again for the final race of the day, and the gradual boat tuning and some good work on the shifts lifted Purkiss into the front by the finish, followed by Heissig and Jones.   Phil Dickinson managed to capsize on the last race of the day lucking Ian Nolan into fourth place.

Congratulations To Jon Heissig for taking the title in such a convincing way and to Simon Horsfield for winning the Silver Fleet.  Our thanks got Gul for their continued support and to Grafham Water for their excellent race management and warm hospitality.

The 2009 circuit kicks off at Chew Valley on March 14^th the week after the annual chat shop that is the Dinghy Show 2009.  See you there!