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Sail-World.com : Gul RS700 Championships 2008 - Day 1

Gul RS700 Championships 2008 - Day 1

'Gul RS700 National Championship 2008' Around The Cans Click Here to view large photo

The 47 boat fleet gathered at the home of the RS700, Hayling Island SC over the weekend for the 2008 Gul National Championship. The first two races on Sunday produced blue skies, bright sunshine and a ‘force four fantastic’ wind in Hayling Bay. At the finish of day 1, Paul Bayliss is leading with two wins, followed by Tim Johnson on 5 points and Nick Peters on 10.

Day 1 - Sunday 24 August

After a grey start to the day with a lot of wind the fleet were quite relieved to start in blue skies, bright sunshine and a ‘force four fantastic’ wind. A port biased line and strong tide resulted in quite a lot of the fleet making a tentative start.

As a result those who hit the line on the gun were able pull well clear from the crowd. At the front it was the old rivalry again with Paul Bayliss being chased down by Tim Johnson with Dave Gorringe, Jon Heissig and Ian Nolan leading the chasing pack. Steve Marshall also gybed early at the second windward mark and made up a lot of ground to join in the fight along with Pete Purkiss.

The next beat was very even with boats going both hard left and hard right with no real advantage. The leading group were still able to extend their lead on the downwind in quite a testing seaway. One victim was Jon Heissig who managed a spectacular pitchpole in the steep waves on the last run. Pete Purkiss failed to capitalise on this as his kite jammed which allowed Paul Bayliss to take the win followed by Tim Johnson, Dave Gorringe and a hard charging Nick Peters.

The second race of the day started with the wind building again and the tide turning. With the course set in the shallow end of the bay, the chop and the cross swell was making for some interesting wave patterns. The fleet were a lot less line shy this time round but still allowed Paul Bayliss to leap off the line like a scolded cat and take his place at the front of the fleet.

RS700 National Championship 2008 - HISC - Around The Cans

Many of the competitors were finding it difficult to decide whether to point or bear off and surf up the beat down the back of the waves. Tim Polglaze pulled through into second continuing his good form from Garda and Aiden Mitchell followed in third.

The waves made for an even more challenging run with many struggling to control the power on port and to keep their noses out of the water on starboard. Aiden went for swim on this run allowing Tim Johnson through into third. These three hit the port layline and looked to be clear but Tim Johnson managed to take a swim during a tack.

Pete Purkiss and Jon Heissig pressed hard down the last run but weren’t able to steal the place and with the wind dying to a F3 no further place changes occurred at the front of the fleet.

The fleet retired to the bar to share tales from an eventful first day and meet up to enjoy some free beer with their Buddies for the week at the daily prizegiving.

Overnight Paul Bayliss is leading with two bullets, followed by Tim Johnson on 5 points and Nick Peters on 10. The schedule for tomorrow starts with a seminar on race preparation from Paul Bayliss in the morning and three races in the afternoon.

RS700 - Leading positions after day 1, 2 races (47 entries)

1st 172 Gold RS700 875 Paul Bayliss Portchester SC 1.0 1.0 2.0 2.0pts
2nd 153 Gold RS700 762 Tim Johnson Chew Valley Lake SC 2.0 3.0 5.0 5.0 pts
3rd 179 Gold RS700 923 Nick Peters HISC 4.0 6.0 10.0 10.0 pts
4th 165 Gold RS700 882 Jon Heissig ltsc/gygsc 5.0 5.0 10.0 10.0 pts
5th 170 Gold RS700 979 David Gorringe Lymington Town SC 3.0 8.0 11.0 11.0 pts
6th 164 Gold RS700 970 Tim Polglase HISC 10.0 2.0 12.0 12.0 pts
7th 182 Gold RS700 761 Pete Purkiss Brightlingsea SC/GWSC 8.0 4.0 12.0 12.0 pts
8th 156 Gold RS700 962 Steve Marshall Sully SC 7.0 9.0 16.0 16.0 pts
9th 178 Gold RS700 767 Stuart Riches Hunstanton SC 9.0 12.0 21.0 21.0 pts
10th 171 Gold RS700 973 Simon Letten HISC 6.0 16.0 22.0 22.0 pts

Our thanks go to Gul for their continued support and to Seasure for providing rash vests and supporting Tuesdays go Karting.

Event website - http://www.hisc.co.uk

by Event media 9:14 PM Sun 24 Aug 2008 GMT

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