RS800 Winter Championships
by Ralph Singleton on 26 Feb 2011
RS800 - RS Winter Championship Mike Shaw
The RS800 Winter Championship was held at Grafham, possibly one of the best inland venues for the class with its vast available sailing area. It was somewhat surprising that only 15 boats turned up (may be the cost of petrol is becoming prohibitive) or indeed that there is not a large fleet of 800s at Grafham.
The forecast was for wind to slowly decrease during Saturday then increase strongly on Sunday. As a consequence Peter Saxton our PRO for the weekend (congratulations Peter on being made an International Race officer) decided to go for four races on Saturday.
The first two were held in a force three with Ben Schooling and George Kingsnorth having a close tussle with Nick Charles and Chris Martin but holding out top take the bullet. In race two new boys Jeremy Collins and James Penty led the way taking the gun from Nick and Chris. The wind then dropped a notch for the last two races with some big shifts starting to require some thought. Nick and Chris won race three and Justin Deal and Ollie Page decided it was time to play and won race four. Ralph and Ollie Singleton clearly liked the shifty, Chew Valley like conditions and finished the day off with two seconds. So overnight Nick and Chris led with Justin and Ben vying for second. Peter Saxton had a great day turning the races round and setting great courses.
The wind duly arrived on Sunday and blew away the alcoholic haze pretty quickly. 20-25 kts from the south provided a good test for the fleet. Despite sleeping in the car overnight Justin and Ollie started where they finished with a bullet closely followed by Ben and George. More of the same in race sic with some of the fleet deciding that the near perfect skiff conditions (apart from a few large gusts) were a little challenging. Ralph and Ollie led the start to finish fending of challenges from Justin and Ollie (took a dip to cure the hangover) and Rob Watson and john Clifton who had put together a very consistent series. So it is possible sail well in light and heavy winds.
So all in all a great weekend sailing with the top 5 finishing within four points of each other. Justin and Ollie took the honors by a point from Ralph and Ollie in second and Rob and John third. Thanks to all at GWSC particularly Peter Saxton and his race team.
Rank |
Fleet |
SailNo |
Division |
HelmName |
CrewName |
Club |
R1 |
R2 |
R3 |
R4 |
R5 |
R6 |
Total |
Nett |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1st |
RS800 |
1133 |
|
Justin Deal |
Ollie Page |
Burghfield SC |
5 |
-12 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
26 |
14 |
2nd |
RS800 |
1166 |
|
Ralph Singleton |
Ollie Singleton |
CVLSC |
-7 |
7 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
22 |
15 |
3rd |
RS800 |
1144 |
|
Nick Charles |
Chris Martin |
Burghfield SC |
2 |
2 |
1 |
-8 |
8 |
3 |
24 |
16 |
4th |
RS800 |
1153 |
|
Rob Watson |
John Clifton |
Royal Lymington YC |
3 |
4 |
-8 |
3 |
4 |
2 |
24 |
16 |
5th |
RS800 |
11 |
|
Ban Schooling |
Goerge Kingsnorth |
Helensburgh SC |
1 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
2 |
(16.0 DNC) |
34 |
18 |
6th |
RS800 |
1146 |
|
Chris Webber |
Emma Pethybridge |
Datchet Water SC |
8 |
8 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
(16.0 DNC) |
47 |
31 |
7th |
RS800 |
1127 |
|
Derek Buchanan |
Elaine Buchanan |
Oxford SC |
-10 |
9 |
9 |
6 |
7 |
5 |
46 |
36 |
8th |
RS800 |
985 |
|
Dan Kilsby |
Bart Bridgen |
Stokes Bay SC |
6 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
(16.0 DNC) |
16.0 DNC |
53 |
37 |
9th |
RS800 |
1020 |
|
Jeremy Collins |
James Penty |
Beaver SC |
4 |
1 |
7 |
10 |
(16.0 DNC) |
16.0 DNC |
54 |
38 |
10th |
RS800 |
1072 |
|
Alex Farr |
Marcelle Newbold |
Weston SC |
9 |
11 |
11 |
9 |
5 |
(16.0 DNC) |
61 |
45 |
11th |
RS800 |
806 |
|
David Hand |
Georgina Hand |
Northampton SC |
11 |
6 |
10 |
11 |
(16.0 DNC) |
16.0 DNC |
70 |
54 |
12th |
RS800 |
1131 |
|
Ant Harvey |
Mike Stone |
Mumbles YC |
(16.0 DNC) |
13 |
12 |
12 |
16.0 DNC |
6 |
75 |
59 |
13th |
RS800 |
1054 |
|
Neil Farman |
James Gibbons |
Datchet Water SC |
12 |
10 |
14 |
13 |
(16.0 DNC) |
16.0 DNC |
81 |
65 |
14th |
RS800 |
990 |
|
Gaspar Vanhollebeke |
Filppo Pages |
West SC |
13 |
14 |
13 |
(16.0 OCS) |
16.0 DNC |
16.0 DNC |
88 |
72 |
15th |
RS800 |
1171 |
|
Anthony Mee |
Clare Rickard |
Datchet Water SC |
14 |
15 |
(16.0 DNC) |
16.0 DNC |
16.0 DNC |
16.0 DNC |
93 |
77 |
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