Results / RS700 GUL Winter Championships Hayling Island - 11/02/2006

Gul RS 700 Winter Championship Hayling Island Saturday dawned over Hayling Island with a forecast from the met office for force 3-4 later 5. What transpired was a force 0 with some sunshine so to avoid any risk of sunstroke in February, most people decamped to the bar for rugby and beers, and the wait for the front coming in from the west. Sunday was very different with rain and force 4-5 for the 18 entries who had travelled from Wales, Norfolk and the South Coast. Racing was held over a short course in Chichester Harbour. Race 1 Pete Greenhalgh lead round the windward mark followed by Alex Koukoourakis and Matt Humphries, at the finish it was Greenhalgh with Humprhries emerging from a tussle with Koukourakis third. Race 2 The lead was fought over between Koukorakis and Greenhalgh with many place changes, eventually Greenhalgh got through upwind to secure the victory. Race 3 Again Greenhalgh was the early leader until a capsize (happens to the best of us !) handed first place to Humprhries chased by Leigh Allbrecht. At the finish it was Humphries from Allbrecht with the now upright Greenhalgh in third. However, both Humprhries and Allbrecht were OCS handing the race and the meeting to Pete Greenhalgh with Alex koukarakis second and a consistent Rob Chaplin third. In addition to the very welcome prizes from Gul for the top 3, special prizes were also awarded to the �Mid Fleet Maestro�, Nigel Walbank and to �Dancing� Dave Gorringe for his commitment to Apres Sail. Overall the event was a great curtain raiser to the season and allowed a few of us to dust off the cobwebs. The next event will be the opening round of the Fat Face circuit at Chew Valley on March 11th and 12th. With a lot of new faces joining the fleet it is going to be exciting to see what the season will bring on top of the success of last year. Stephen Butcher