Results / Gul RS700 National Championships Weymouth & Portland SA - 21/08/2004
Sponsored by GUL, the RS700 Nationals at Weymouth and Portland Sailing
Academy produced electric racing, with 5 different race winners, and a
high standard of boat handling throughout the fleet. And with top
performances coming from competitors throughout the weight range 70 - 95
kgs, the 700 proved that it can be raced effectively by a wide range of
shapes and sizes.
Day 1 saw a shifty and gusty wind which saw Tim Dickinson extend a huge
lead in the first race which would never be headed. Behind him a close
tussle evolved with reigning champion Paul Bayliss eventually pulling
through to second, with Jerry Wales third. One of the favourites to lift
the title, Neil Robinson, opened his campaign in the worst possible way
suffering gear failure on the way out to the start. As if set to avenge
this, Robinson shot out of the line in Race 2 on port tack and extended a
lead that looked unassailable. Bayliss however ground away at the lead
with some brave downwind sailing and took the lead up the last beat,
leaving Robinson wondering if he should have invested in a compass.
Another favourite for the title, Andy White sailed clean to take third.
With a forecast for more wind on day 2, the fleet were surprised to have
3 races in a fickle breeze blowing alternately round either side of
Portland Bill. This was to be Robinsons day scoring 1,1,2 with fantastic
boat speed and clever tactics. Bayliss was struggling with 4,3,3,
however nobody had a day as bad as Andy White, who had given a seminar on
gybing earlier that day. Capsizing on both gybes to the finish in the
first race, he trumped this with an OCS in the second and then had a
painful X-flag call on the final race. Former Olympic sailor Jason
Belben, and Jerry Wales were both starting to put series' together with a
set of consistent results which was hard to do at this stage.
Strong winds finally arrived on Day 3, and the fleet nervously made their
way out to the race course. Series leader Robinson showed he could sail
fast in all winds leading the pack round the windward mark, however he
was quickly overtaken by Bayliss and White charging downwind, and the
race finished in that order despite a quick dip at the finish to cool off
by Bayliss and White. Race 7 was held in winds gusting towards 30 knots,
and the trio of Robinson, White and Bayliss opened up a gap at the front
once again. The flat water at the top of the course was manageable, but
a steep chop was setting up in the leeward half of the course. One by
one, all three leaders fell victim to the wind and waves, and Belben held
his nerve to take the race win, followed by a recovering White and a
constantly improving Jerry Wales.
So going into the last day Robinson held a narrow lead, with Bayliss
needing to pull out all the stops. However, both Wales and Belben could
steal the show if these two had a repeat of the previous days disasters.
Bayliss is no stranger to pressure sailing, and in the fresh (and
freshening) breezes, confidently scored a couple of bullets, with
Robinson down in 6th and 12th place in the races. White scored a couple
of second places, which unfortunately were little more than consolation
prizes at this stage. Wales (3,4) narrowly took the day from Belben
(4,3), whilst RS legend Alex Southon (4,7) showed some great form that
he'd been promising all week.
The final scores on the doors therefore showed Paul Bayliss as three-time
RS700 National Champion, adding to the four RS600 titles that he won in
the 1990's, a remarkable achievement in these performance single-
handers. Neil Robinson managed to hang onto second, obviously
disappointed not to convert an excellent performance in the first half of
the week. Jerry Wales has come of age in the RS700, and will be
justifiably proud of his third place at this testing event, improving all
the time. Jason Belben was fourth overall, which probably doesn't
reflect his superb speed, strategy and consistency at this event. Andy
White was fifth, left wondering what might have been, and the long
standing RS sailor Andy Irons put together a good series to end up in
sixth place. Newcomer Jon Heissig from Lymington was the winner of the
silver fleet, coming an impressive 10th in his first year in the boat.
Overall the fleet left exhausted from a very satisfying week of sailing
at Weymouth, with thanks to WPSA, and in particular race officer Jim
Gollop who managed to get a great series in around the weather windows.
The fleet look forward to coming back to WPSA when the new building is
finished, and which even now looks like promising a superb facility for
hosting events.
1 875 Paul Bayliss Portchester SC 17 G 12 2 1 4 3 3 1 7
1 1
2 744 Neil Robinson Hayling Island SC 21 G 20 RET35 2 1 1 2
2 6 6 12
3 888 Jerry Wales M Queen Mary SC 27 G 24 3 5 5 9 1 10 3 3
4
4 788 Jason Belben Stokes Bay SC 18 G 27 5 6 3 6 8 4 1 5
3
5 900 Andy White Stokes Bay SC 19 G 29 10 3 7 OCS35 13 3
2 2 2
6 823 Andy Irons Queen Mary SC 24 G 47 7 20 16 7 4 6 4
13 6
7 881 Alex Southon Hayling Island SC 8 G 49 12 4 13 8 5 9
DNF35 4 7
8 766 Alex Koukourakis Eastbourne Sovereign SC 1 G 59 6 7 18
17 RET35 11 5 8 5
9 903 Timothy Dickinson Hayling Island SC 33 G 61 1 12 15 5
7 12 9 16 17
10 882 Jon Heissig Lymington Town SC 3 S 63 25 15 8 2 11
23 8 10 9
11 750 Andrew Peake Bough Beech SC 14 G 67 14 8 2 18 10 8
15 11 14
12 822 Tony Freer Chew Valley Lake SC 28 G 67 9 13 9 12 6
14 RET35 7 11
13 891 Stephen Butcher Hayling Island SC 12 G 74 4 9 10 15
16 16 18 12 8
14 861 Eddie Gatehouse Chichester YC 35 G 97 15 14 11 19 21
13 17 17 10
15 904 Nicholas Rizzi M Hayling Island SC 9 S 102 26 17 6 4
22 7 20 RET35 DNF35
16 894 Guy Mayger Felpham SC 23 G 105 11 10 19 23 15 21
16 25 13
17 798 Nick Rawlings M Hayling Island SC 31 G 105 16 16 22 11
14 18 14 24 16
18 808 Richard Rous Queen Mary SC 25 G 108 8 19 14 26 9 27
10 26 22
19 716 Carl Vining Starcross YC 29 G 113 17 11 12 10 17
OCS35 23 23 RET35
20 869 Leigh Albrecht Queen Mary SC 15 S 115 27 24 29 13 12
5 13 21 RET35
21 890 Ian Swann Hayling Island SC 7 S 118 13 22 27 30 20
17 22 9 15
22 844 Graham Simmonds Hayling Island SC 6 S 118 18 30 17 14
25 24 12 14 19
23 806 Nicky Griffin L Hayling Island SC 2 S 124 23 18 24 21
28 15 11 18 18
24 719 Jamie Stewart Stokes Bay SC 10 S 142 20 21 26 22 23
26 21 15 20
25 760 Steve Marshall M Corus Colours SC 32 S 148 21 23 28 28
18 20 19 19 RET35
26 721 Neil Sanders Cardiff Bay YC 4 S 162 19 25 32 24 24
28 25 22 23
27 834 Tom Offer Chew Valley Lake SC 30 S 170 22 27 23 27
DSQ35 25 26 20 RET35
28 769 Mark Pollington Burghfield SC 34 S 180 28 26 21 16
19 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35
29 867 Richard Neiveen Stokes Bay SC 16 S 182 30 32 31 31
30 19 24 27 21
30 787 Angus Chisholm Hayling Island SC 11 S 196 29 29 20 32
29 22 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35
31 901 Christopher Kirk M N/A 26 S 205 RET35 28 25 20 27
DNF35 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35
32 728 Adam Wright Stokes Bay SC 20 S 206 24 31 30 25 26
DNF35 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35
33 756 Peter Norris Grafham Water SC 22 S 227 31 33 33 29
31 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35
34 892 Nick Collins Queen Mary SC 5 S 236 32 DNF35 34 33 32
DNF35 DNF35 DNF35 DNF35