2015 RYA Olympic Classes National Rankers - Close racing

by RYA on 15 Sep 2015 The first in a series of three RYA Olympic Classes National Rankers took place at Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) over the weekend (12-13 September).

The RS:X, 470, and Finn fleets all raced on the London 2012 Olympic Waters in 15-22 knots and full sunshine to complete their full schedule of racing. British Sailing Team Podium Potential sailors Peter McCoy and Hector Simpson battled it out at the front of the Finn fleet with McCoy taking the final race win to top the leader board one point clear of Simpson. Ben Cornish finished the weekend in third.

Seventeen-year-old Dan Wilson won the RS:X 8.5 class ahead of Andy Brown in second and Imogen Sills in third. Wilson, who will represent the British Youth Sailing Team at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships later this year in Malaysia, put together a consistent series winning half the races across the weekend.

Joe Bennett won six of the eight races to convincingly with the RS:X 9.5 class. Kieran Martin and Matthew Barton finished second and third respectively.

The next ranker event for the windsurfers will be the National Windsurfing Championships which takes place at Grafham Water this weekend (19-20 September).

Martin Wrigley and Sam Brearey won the men’s 470 after fought a close battle with Tim Riley and James Taylor who were just one point behind in second. The Ranker was Wrigley’s first 470 event after stepping out of the 420 in August. Wrigley and Brearey plan to do the other national rankers this autumn, both of which will be held at WPNSA.

The 49er and 49erFX National Championships held at Hayling Island Sailing Club, 11 – 13 September were won by Rory and Neil Hunter, James Peters and Fynn Sterritt followed closely behind in second with David Mori and Justin Barnes rounding off the top three.

In the 49erFX fleet Gillies Munro and Daniel Harris won the overall event while Vikki Payne and Steph Orton were the first all-female FX crew. The second ranker event for the 470, Finn, 49er, 49erFX and three Paralympic classes, 2.4mR, SKUD and Sonar will take place at WPNSA this weekend (19-20 September).