Radial Inlands at Grafham Water

Tue, 6 Nov 2012

A fleet of 120 Radials made the journey to Grafham Water Sailing Club for the final domestic sailing event of the season, the Inland Championships (although the 'Masters' have their Inlands next weekend at Grafham. The event was held at the same time as the 4.7 and Standard Inlands who were racing on a separate course. The qualifiers start next year in March, the weekend after the Dinghy Show.

Fortunately, the extremely strong winds which were forecast midweek failed to materialise, although conditions on Sunday were brutally cold. Six races were sailed in total with day one a round robin series which each of the four groups racing each other once before going in Gold and Silver on day two (with one discard from the series).

Saturday and the Westerly winds slowly backed throughout the day but Race Officer Simon Dabson did a great job at getting the races away as quickly as possible.

In the first start of race one there was a large left shift which enabled Jon Emmett to cross the fleet and lead at the windward mark. He gradually pulled away from the pack which was initially lead by Calum Tait before being overtaken by Ellie Cumpsty.

The second start of race two and the race was dominated by Kieran Hill who pulled well clear of the fleet. Second place belonged to Edward Jones.

The first start of race two saw Freddie Chiddicks and Thomas Williams pulling clear of the fleet, however down the final run both Emmett and Hannah Snellgrove stayed in the pressure better to overtake them, just before the leeward mark.

The first start of race three saw big pressure differences across the course which allowed much place changing up the first beat. In the end Chiddicks who had been denied a race win at the last possible moment in the previous race finally got his race win. Emmett pulled through the fleet to second but was never able to challenge.

The second start of race three saw the wind begin to drop. This time the ever consistent Cumpsty who was clearly enjoying the conditions took her third, second place. This time with Thomas Scott taking the race win.

So at the end of day one Emmett and Hill were tied on points with Williams and Cumpsty who enjoying a constant day with three second places, two points behind. The fleet was then split into Gold and Silver for next day racing.

Sunday and more wind but also more rain greeted competitors. With the breeze now from the North East it was much colder than the previous day, with many in the fleet choosing to launch late and some very nearly missed the start. Emmett won races four and five to take the event with a race to spare and therefore getting an early shower.

Race four saw the first attempt general recalled and four boats disqualified under the Black flag rule. Emmett won the pin end and soon tacked and crossed to the fleet. Behind him there was a good battle for second place with Hill overtaking Thomas Williams down the first run. Despite the shifty conditions, this order remained unchanged to the finish.

Race five and Snellgrove won the pin end and stayed ahead of the chasing pack. Emmett took the shifts better up the first beat to lead at the windward mark but Snellgrove did enough to ensure that she was never challenged for second place. Emmett and Snellgrove pulled away from the fleet with Williams again taking third place.

Race six and Snellgrove once again won the pin and this time she was able to take and cross the fleet, which she did. However Williams carried on going left and as the wind continued to back he grabbed the lead which he held to the finish, grabbing the bullet pushing him into four overall, with Snellgrove taking another second place, to finish first Lady. Third place went to Hill, enough to secure him second overall from Snellgrove. Cumpsty was unable to find her speed of the first day by but finished a very respectable fifth overall.

Everybody left with extremely clean boats after they were kindly hosed clean by Grafham to ensure that all the Killer shrimps stayed firming put. (Please don't worry they don't kill people, just other small water creatures!)

Inlands GWSC Radial 2012 Gold

Entries: 60      Total Races Sailed: 9