Bollé RS700 Grand Prix at Weston SC

by Debbie Darling on 3 Oct 2013 The RS700 travelling fleet moved to Weston Sailing Club in Southampton Water for the last of the Bollé Grand Prix series for 2013. Windguru was looking pretty pessimistic for the Sunday and, sure enough, we only got one day’s racing.

It was good to see some newcomers among the eleven strong fleet although the light and gusty conditions weren’t necessarily the best introduction. Don’t the organisers of these regattas realise that the 700 needs exactly 13kts from one direction?

With the wind mostly coming from 210deg the PRO set a shortish, 880m, course to keep us clear of the shipping and, with only minor adjustments between the races it seemed pretty fair.

It was a bit of a Dencher fest with the brothers dominating all three races, Colin Dacey hard on their heels in his new, very fast, boat. In the first race, Tony appeared to have the starboard advantage as they reached the WM together but had to throw in a quick tack inside the zone allowing Mike to nip round the outside to set up some very close racing for the four laps, the two never being more than a few boat lengths apart. Matt Connor from QM was close behind with his club mate Chris Kirk attacking in the second half but neither could live with the leaders’ pace. Tony sailed a very strong last lap, including three gybes to Mike's one, for the win with Colin squeezing in between for second

The second race saw a tight bunch rounding the first mark, Tony in the lead again but this time pressed by Neville Watson and Graham Blake. Mike passed them both but Tony got the advantage of some huge headers on a couple of downwind legs, almost fetching the gate on the second lap and only his brother could get near, both of them finishing a leg ahead of the pack.

Mike at last got his win in the third and last of the weekend, leading Tony from start to finish although chased rather more closely by Colin Dacey, Graham and Matt all of whom will have been pleased with their day.

Fastest speed seen was 14.0kt in the first race by Mike Dencher; it’s amazing how quickly you can go when you’re looking at your brother’s transom!

Rank	Fleet	Class	SailNo	HelmName	CrewName	R1	R2	R3	Total	Nett
1st	RS700	RS700	870	Tony Dencher		1	1	2	4	4
2nd	RS700	RS700	908	Mike Dencher		3	2	1	6	6
3rd	RS700	RS700	1027	Colin Dacey		2	3	3	8	8
4th	RS700	RS700	914	Graham Blake		7	4	4	15	15
5th	RS700	RS700	949	Matt Conner		4	7	5	16	16
6th	RS700	RS700	808	Nev Watson		6	5	6	17	17
7th	RS700	RS700	1029	Chris Kirk		5	6	9	20	20
8th	RS700	RS700	1031	Hamish Griffiths		12.0 DNS	9	7	28	28
9th	RS700	RS700	709	John Hinsley		8	12.0 DNC	8	28	28
10th	RS700	RS700	884	David Edge		12.0 DNC	8	12.0 DNC	32	32
11th	RS700	RS700	770	Clare Stubbs		12.0 DNF	12.0 DNC	12.0 DNC	36	36

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