Bollé RS600 Grand Prix 2013

by Chris Tilbrook on 19 Apr 2013 10-15 knots of breeze was on the lake for the second Bollé Grand Prix held at Oxford Sailing Club. The course for the weekend was triangles and sausages sharing with the 500s and Contenders.

Race 1 - Got under way with the 600 being the first fleet away, Ian and I go lefty, Pete and Matt over on the right, Wayne and Dan more in the middle of the course. At the windward mark all the boats arrive close together, Ian is first round followed by the rest of us; the first reach was well set,everyone has enough wind and we are all blasting down to the wing mark. The wind is starting to puff up a little and its shifting around a lot, on the next leg a big gust catches Ian out and he goes down the shaft leaving Pete, myself and Dan screaming to the bottom mark. Up the next windward

leg Pete and Dan managed to get some distance, and although Dan goes for a swim on the final leg home, he is quick enough to right himself and hang on to his position. So, Pete grabs first followed by Dan, me, Wayne and the rest of the fleet.

Race 2 - This was the closest race, there is a lot of place changing in the early part of the race. After a few laps Pete and Ian move out a bit but there is still some close racing from the rest of the fleet, with most of us tacking some time out for a swim or two. On the finish its another first for Pete, Ian grabs second followed up by Matt and Wayne.

Race 3 – Again, everyone stays pretty close together for the first lap, Matt finds himself up front with the rest of us all close together. Up the second windward leg Matt has got a bit of distance and rounds first, me and Ian approach from the left with Pete and Wayne coming in from the right. The wind at the top mark was very gusty and all over the place Wayne has a bit of trouble tacking around, but it was me that made the biggest **** up; I stalled out then got hit by a gust which tipped me in, it didn't end there though as I got stuck on the mark. I had to use several three word combo's to get back into the race, by which time everyone had sailed off. I couldn't see what was happening at the front, but Matt grabs a first, then its Pete, Ian, and Wayne.

For the evening most decided to head home for bed as it was far from camping weather; there were not enough people stopping for food, so Pete and I went back to his club where the 200's had their open (Northampton). We dined with them and were very well entertained with a sports quiz and a spot of indoor golf which was I think organized by Alley Martin – it was a great, fun evening!

Sunday morning the wind is well up in the 20knt with some 30knt puffs. I decided to try a reef in the rig; I have never sailed with the smaller rig and this seemed like a good chance to see how the boat handles reefed down, only the sail and not the mast just encase the wind dropped. Ian did the same as well as Pete. Heroes, Matt and Wayne went large and headed for the line followed by Ian. This ended up being a three boat race, as Pete and I spent to long rigging on the shore and the rest thought it was a bit much. So off the line, Matt starts to pull away; the boats are getting a bit of a pounding as they head upwind. Matt gets to the top mark first followed by Wayne and Ian, Pete and myself joined in while waiting for the next race. The race boats are on the reach down to the wing mark, some of the gybes come good but large gusts over-power them resulting in a few swims. Next upwind leg Matt is still in front, Ian gets into second as a result of Wayne dropping it in and holds this to the wing mark when he takes a swim and this allows Wayne back into second. Matt leads over the line, followed by Wayne and then Ian. That was our lot for the weekend's racing as the wind seemed to be getting up.

Well done to Pete who takes the second overall win in the series.

Thanks very much to Oxford Sailing Club for our racing which were in very testing conditions, and to our sponsor's Bolle.



Next stop Paignton on the 11th and 12th of may