RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series – Glorious conditions at the WPNSA

by Matt Carter on 15 Apr 2014 Sailors revelled in glorious conditions the weekend of 12-13 April as the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy held the second installment of the RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series.

With 8-12 knots and superb sunshine across the two days of racing, the annual Spring Series event witnessed some impressive racing across the five Olympic and three Paralympic classes inside Portland Harbour.

2013 Spring Series Champions and British Sailing Team pairing James Peters and Ed Fitzgerald cruised to an emphatic victory in the 49er class.

They sealed nine race wins from the ten race series and finished a remarkable 13 points in front of second place Henry Lloyd Williams and Sam Batten, while Vikki Payne and Steph Orton were top of the 49erFX event.

'We are really happy with the victory this weekend and our performance on the water. It was a great weekend for sailing and was a great opportunity to race against other members of the squad in a competitive environment,' said Peters.

'We had some really nice conditions to compete, especially today [Sunday 13 April] when the wind filled in from the West we had three races in what were glamour conditions.

'The Spring Series events are great – it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to get in some competitive racing and also for the younger guys on the squad to really try and excel themselves and qualify for a number of grants for the summer events. It’s also nice for us as a team to remember how to win events as you can go to international regattas and spend a lot of time finishing mid fleet, so to come here and win is quite important and obviously a great feeling,' explained the 49er helm from Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Tom Squires also had an extraordinary day out on the water in the RS:X windsurfing event, sealing six race wins from the seven completed to take the weekend victory ahead of Connor Bainbridge in second and Ali Masters in third. Noelle Finch took event honours in the RS:X 8.5 event by six points over Sebastian Round in second. Cameron Coghill finished third.

In the 15 strong heavyweight Finn fleet, Peter McCoy came out on top with an imposing five race wins across the course of the weekend. James Hadden was hot on his heels to round his event off in second while Ben Cornish sealed the third step on the podium.

In the Paralympic events, Megan Pascoe stole the show in the 2.4mR class, taking a clean sweep of race wins to cement her position at the top of the leaderboard after the nine race Series. Jonathon Currell finished 13 points behind Pascoe in second with Ian Stowe claiming third.

Alex Hovden and Katie Tomsett took event honours in the SKUD event with Simon Barter, Alistair Barter and Ed Suckling putting in an impressive performance in the Sonar to finish first.

The RYA Olympic Classes Spring Series finale will be hosted by Hayling Island Sailing Club on the 3-4 May - entries will be taken at registration.

2.4 mR

RANK	Sail Nos	Class	HELM	Tally	Total	RACE 1	RACE 2	RACE 3	RACE 4	RACE 5	RACE 6	RACE 7	RACE 8	RACE 9	NET
1	98	2.4mR	Megan PASCOE	38	8.0	(1)	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	7.0
2	124	2.4mR	Jonathan CURRELL	30	26.0	4	4	2	2	2	2	(6)	4	5	20.0
3	116	2.4mR	Iain STOWE	10	26.0	3	(5)	3	5	3	3	2	2	3	21.0
4	113	2.4mR	John BROOKER	23	38.0	6	2	(7)	3	4	6	5	5	6	31.0
5	68	2.4mR	Carol DUGDALE	16	40.0	5	6	6	4	(RET)	5	3	3	4	32.0
6	111	2.4mR	Martin WHITTINGHAM-JONES	40	42.0	2	3	4	(DNS)	DNC	7	4	6	RET	34.0
7	3	2.4mR	Will STREET	7	48.0	(7)	7	5	6	5	4	7	7	2	41.0

Finn

RANK	Sail Nos	Class	HELM	CREW	CLUB	Tally	Total	RACE 1	RACE 2	RACE 3	RACE 4	RACE 5	RACE 6	RACE 7	RACE 8	RACE 9	NET
1	29	Finn	Peter McCOY		-	31	17.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	3.0	1.0	(4.0)	1.0	3.0	1.0	13.0
2	18	Finn	James HADDEN		-	11	25.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	(8.0)	2.0	2.0	3.0	17.0
3	4	Finn	Ben CORNISH		-	32	31.0	(7.0)	3.0	3.0	1.0	2.0	7.0	3.0	1.0	4.0	24.0
4	642	Finn	John TREMLETT		-	12	36.0	(9.0)	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	1.0	4.0	4.0	2.0	27.0
5	2	Finn	Allen BURRELL		-	18	56.0	3.0	5.0	5.0	8.0	5.0	2.0	7.0	(16.0 OCS)	5.0	40.0
6	635	Finn	Simon PERCIVAL		-	45	56.0	5.0	6.0	7.0	6.0	6.0	(9.0)	6.0	5.0	6.0	47.0
7	708	Finn	Michael DE COURCY		-	44	73.0	8.0	7.0	8.0	5.0	7.0	(16.0 DNC)	9.0	6.0	7.0	57.0
8	61	Finn	John HEYES		-	43	89.0	(13.0)	13.0	9.0	9.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	7.0	8.0	76.0
9	707	Finn	Adrian BRUNTON		-	8	97.0	4.0	9.0	6.0	(16.0 RET)	16.0 DNC	6.0	8.0	16.0 DNC	16.0 DNC	81.0
10	20	Finn	Andy DENISON		-	37	95.0	11.0	(14.0)	12.0	10.0	8.0	11.0	12.0	8.0	9.0	81.0

RS:X 8.5

RANK	Sail Nos	Class	HELM	Tally	Total	RACE 1	RACE 2	RACE 3	RACE 4	RACE 5	RACE 6	RACE 7	NET
1	703	RS:X 8.5	Noelle FINCH	25	17.0	(4.0)	4.0	3.0	3.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	13.0
2	223	RS:X 8.5	Sebastian ROUND	1	29.0	2.0	5.0	4.0	4.0	2.0	2.0	(10.0 DNC)	19.0
3	466	RS:X 8.5	Cameron COGHILL	5	40.0	5.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	(10.0 DNC)	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	30.0
4	561	RS:X 8.5	Imogen SILLS	3	45.0	3.0	1.0	1.0	(10.0 DNC)	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	35.0
5	749	RS:X 8.5	Robert YORK	26	55.0	(10.0 DNC)	3.0	10.0 OCS	2.0	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	45.0
6	962	RS:X 8.5	Daniel WILSON	36	61.0	1.0	(10.0 DNC)	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	51.0
7	889	RS:X 8.5	Natalie McWILLIAMS	4	61.0	(10.0 DNC)	6.0	5.0	10.0 RET	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	51.0
8	224	RS:X 8.5	Marina ROUND	2	63.0	(10.0 DNF)	10.0 RET	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	3.0	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	53.0
9	961	RS:X 8.5	Emma WILSON	35	70.0	(10.0 DNC)	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	10.0 DNC	60.0

RS:X 9.5

RANK	Sail Nos	Class	HELM	CLUB	Tally	Total	RACE 1	RACE 2	RACE 3	RACE 4	RACE 5	RACE 6	RACE 7	NET
1	931	RS:X 9.5	Tom SQUIRES	-	24	8.0	1.0	1.0	(2.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	6.0
2	17	RS:X 9.5	Connor BAINBRIDGE	-	19	17.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	(4.0)	4.0	2.0	13.0
3	41	RS:X 9.5	Ali MASTERS	-	29	24.0	4.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	(5.0)	2.0	3.0	19.0
4	X	RS:X 9.5	Kieran MARTIN	-	28	29.0	5.0	3.0	(7.0 OCS)	4.0	2.0	3.0	5.0	22.0
5	60	RS:X 9.5	Samual SILLS	-	22	33.0	3.0	5.0	4.0	5.0	(6.0)	6.0	4.0	27.0
6	983	RS:X 9.5	Matthew BARTON	-	21	37.0	(6.0)	6.0	5.0	6.0	3.0	5.0	6.0	31.

Sonar

RANK	Sail Nos	Class	HELM	CREW	Tally	SecondCrew	Total	RACE 1	RACE 2	RACE 3	RACE 4	RACE 5	RACE 6	RACE 7	RACE 8	RACE 9	NET
1	724	Sonar	Simon BARTER	Alistair BARTER	6		10.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	(2.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	8.0
2	747	Sonar	Craig WOOD	Steven PALMER	15		19.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	1.0	(3.0)	3.0	2.0	2.0	16.0
3	24	Sonar	David HAWKINS	Tom ABREY	14	Keith WHITE	25.0	(3.0)	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	2.0	3.0	3.0	2

49er

RANK	Sail Nos	HELM	CREW	Tally	Class	Nat	Total	RACE 1	RACE 2	RACE 3	RACE 4	RACE 5	RACE 6	RACE 7	RACE 8	RACE 9	RACE 10	NET
1	999	James PETERS	Ed FITZGERALD	33	49er	GBR	11.0	1.0	(2.0)	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	9.0
2	102	Henry LLOYD WILLIAMS	Sam BATTEN	41	49er	GBR	28.0	2.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	4.0	2.0	(6.0 OCS)	4.0	3.0	22.0
3	1151	Jack HAWKINS	Christopher THOMAS	17	49er	GBR	32.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	2.0	4.0	(6.0 OCS)	2.0	2.0	26.0
4	321	Chris TAYLOR	Dominick BURKE	27	49er	GBR	34.0	(4.0)	4.0	4.0	3.0	4.0	3.0	3.0	2.0	3.0	4.0	30.0
5	142	Chris TILBROOK	Carys ROBERTS	42	49er	GBR	50.0	5.0	5.0	5.0	(6.0 DNC)	5.0	5.0	5.0	3.0	6.0 DNF	5.0	44.0

For the full list of results click British Sailing Team