Volvo End of Season Championship – RS200s at Datchet Water SC

by Lucy Preston on 19 Nov 2014 A fleet of 26 RS200s arrived at Datchet on Saturday morning for the Volvo End of Season Championship to a busy boat park and some decent breeze we haven't seen in a while!

The first race was breezy and favoured the more experienced teams who got to show off some impressive boat handling. It was a close race but Matt Mee/Emma Norris smashed it with Chris Catt/Roz McGrane and Nick and Jules Charles coming up behind.

The breeze built in the second race and opened up the competition, with Ally Martin/Simon Potts taking advantage of some wicked gusts downwind and pulling out an impressive lead. Mee/Norris and Catt/McGrane followed.

In the third race, there were some big gusts and bigger lulls, making the fleet close together by the top marks. Mee/Norris showed us all how to do it, with Ben Palmer/Fiona Hampshire and Josh Metcalfe/Ellie Gadd chasing them down.

Sunday could not have been more different. The reservoir was flat calm and there was some sun (something we didn't see the day before...). After an hour's postponement on shore, we all headed out but ended up waiting a bit longer whilst the race officer assured us there was a six knot breeze coming. Luckily he was right and the racing started.

In the fourth race of the series, Emma Norris, helmed by special guest star Niki Birrell, snuck up to the front managing to take advantage of the conditions, with Luke Patience/Lisa Tait and Ben Palmer/Fiona Hampshire in second and third, respectively.

In the final race, the breeze was dropping rapidly and Catt/Mcgrane, Alan Roberts/Holly Scott and Will Taylor/Fiona Mulcahy figured it out and nailed the last race.

Thank you to Datchet for running a great weekend of racing and to all of the competitors for coming. We had a fantastic weekend's sailing and the race committee did an awesome job of getting all of the fleets out and racing in the conditions!

Thank you also to Volvo for supporting the classes this year! As part of its support of RS Sailing and the RS Class Associations, Volvo Car UK had a strong presence at the End of Seasons, putting on a variety of shore side activities, including a colouring competition, remote controlled cars and the Sail for Gold Game. Team Volvo sailor and London 2012 silver medallist Luke Patience competed at the event in the RS200 class and presented the prizes.

See you all next year!

Results

Sailed: 5, Discards: 1, To count: 4, Entries: 26, Scoring system: Appendix A

Rank	HelmName		CrewName	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	Total	Nett
1st	Matt Mee/ Niki Birrit		Emma Norris	1	2	1	1	-9	14	5
2nd	Chris Catt		Roz McGrane	2	3	6	-18	1	30	12
3rd	Mark Heather		Lucy Preston	5	4	4	4	-15	32	17
4th	Ally Martin		Simon Potts	6	1	7	-16	5	35	19
5th	Ben Palmer		Fiona Hampshire	10	8	2	3	-13	36	23
6th	Nicholas Charles		Juliet Charles	3	5	(27.0 DNC)	14	4	53	26
7th	Luke Patience		Lisa Tait	8	-12	10	2	7	39	27
8th	Josh Metcalfe		Ellie Gadd	4	6	3	-19	16	48	29
9th	David Jessop		Clare Michelmore	7	10	(27.0 DNC)	8	6	58	31
10th	Philip White		Robert White	11	9	5	11	(27.0 DNC)	63	36
11th	Caroline Martin		Nick Martin	-20	11	13	6	8	58	38
12th	Neil Barrett		Sophie Jones	9	(27.0 DNC)	9	10	10	65	38
13th	Alan Roberts		Holly Scott	-17	17	8	13	2	57	40
14th	Joe Adams		Emma Lucas	12	-14	12	5	11	54	40
15th	Will Taylor		Fiona Mulcahy	-22	16	17	7	3	65	43
16th	David Conlon		Sarah Bines	13	-18	11	9	12	63	45
17th	Jonathan Lewis		Jo Tribe	14	7	14	(27.0 DNF)	18	80	53
18th	Chris Larr		Abigail Larr	19	-20	16	12	17	84	64
19th	Chris Cowan		Andy Cowan	15	13	-21	21	19	89	68
20th	Marianthe Evangelidis		Adam Fox	-21	15	18	15	20	89	68
21st	Adam Wickenden		Anais Bramall	23	19	(27.0 DNC)	17	14	100	73
22nd	Charlotte Savage		Pete Bentley	16	21	15	(27.0 DNC)	27.0 DNC	106	79
23rd	Alexander Lee		Izzy Mitchell	18	(27.0 DNC)	19	22	23	109	82
24th	Peter Goodyear		Nicolla Ellis	(27.0 DNC)	22	20	20	22	111	84
25th	William Bates		Clare Whitehall	(27.0 DNC)	27.0 DNC	27.0 DNC	23	21	125	98
26th	James Walters		Jenny Evans	(27.0 DNC)	27.0 DNC	27.0 DNC	24	24	129	102