RS400 Gul Inland Championship Grafham Water SC

by Ben Saxton on 17 Oct 2014 The 31 boat RS400 fleet travelled to Grafham Water Sailing Club (GWSC) for the 2014 Gul Inland Championships. A lot of work has been going on at GWSC in the past year or so and the club did not disappoint. For the weekend there was great sailing, great food, great fun, and goose poo free lawns!

With the light forecast in mind all fleets were set for four races on Saturday, with two left for Sunday. In very challenging conditions the always slick and efficient race team headed by Peter and Sue Saxton got four fair and perfect length races away. I'd love to be able to write more about the first race but the race team’s efficiency caught me out so I can't tell you what happened at the front too much! Three boats shot off into the distance up the first beat into an unassailable lead. Race one was won by Mike Sims and Richard Brown from Carsington SC. Close on their heels were Hamish Gledhill and Simon Dowse followed by David Brown and Rebecca Witt. Josh Metcalfe sailing with the famous Tobytastic Lewis sailed a great race to consolidate fourth place just ahead of the chasing bunch and remind everyone of why they were one of the pre-race favourites.

Race two saw even lighter winds and a shift to the left. After a close fought first beat myself and my super crew Izzy Hamilton, who was taking weekend off from her windsurfing Olympic campaign to do her third and fourth days of what she calls 'boat racing', extended into a safe lead. There were many large place changes behind in the incredibly tight pack. For the majority of the race Jack Holden and Alex Lee after a great couple of decisions out of the leeward marks were leading the chase. Unfortunately Jack and Alex found a sizeable hole in the wind down the last run and Sims / Brown slipped past them to continue their impressive start and finish second. Metcalfe / Lewis who were there or there abouts during the whole race too showed great skill down the last run to once again put a great counting result on the board and finish third.

Race three once again saw light winds. After a very close first lap with some close boat on boat racing Izzy and I managed to escape from Metcalfe / Lewis to gain the lead. The whole 31 boat fleet was so close for this race though. It was great! Half way down the third and last run Sims / Brown were closely fighting for second with Richard Gray and Jon Dyas, with Metalfe / Lewis a length behind the two. All three were ten lengths above the port downwind layline after going down the outside of the run. Metcalfe / Lewis showed the importance of downwind speed as they were able to skilfully soak lower than the other two in order to beat them around the leewards and finish second on the water. Unfortunately I had started too early so was scored a black flag meaning Metalfe / Lewis won the race. Sims / Brown came in second with Gray / Dyas third, and Dave Exley and Jonny Limebear fourth.

The fourth race was set for a very interesting battle between Metcalfe / Lewis and Sims / Brown for the overnight lead. Unfortunately there was an black flag general recall in which Metcale / Lewis were called over and got to head to the bar early. Many other top boats were caught out too with Brown / Witt and Gledhill / Dowse caught over too. I hate to say this to them but they missed a thrilling race with the leading few boats coming from the pin end of the line after the restart, and many caught out by this, leading to some great comeback attempts and almost 10 boats within as many seconds rounding the first windward mark. Izzy and I snuck into a very narrow lead for a few legs before being left behind on the last downwind by the chasing three boats. Caroline Whitehouse and Tony Cliff from Bartley SC won the race from Sims / Brown in second and, Exley / Limebear in third.

Also a special mention should be given to Pete Vincent and Sara Jackson for speedily getting to the windward mark as leaders in the first attempt of race four before it was abandoned due to a large wind shift.

A great dinner was served by the club on Saturday night and the bar was alive for many hours in the late afternoon and evening. One of the benefits of being in well before dark after four races and only starting at midday! It was also great to see five boats from GWSC competing within the fleet with Alisdair James and Andy Johnson leading the charge in 11th overnight.

Mike Sims and Richard Brown clearly sailed an excellent day leaving them overnight leaders, and only discarding a second. Melcalfe / Lewis were second despite their black flag. In third with consistency proving king it was Gray / Dyas, with Izzy and me fourth, and Whitehouse / Cliff fifth.

Sadly the wind forgot to get out of bed on Sunday so we were all left eating bacon sandwiches and drinking tea ashore. Over my sandwich I was left pondering over my weekend. I have done a lot of RS200 racing before and lots of racing in a million other classes but never before at a RS400 class event. I had a great weekend and really enjoyed the competitive racing and friendly atmosphere. From the very beginning I was welcomed into the fleet. Throughout the day people were giving me advice on RS4000 setup tricks and basic settings. Whether you want to race to be in a highly competitive fleet, or just enjoy the motion of sailing I cannot recommend enough travelling to these events or similar ones and getting involved. I'd like to say a huge thank you to the RS400 fleet for letting me have such an enjoyable weekend. Also I think it would be great to see RS400 sailors jump into RS200s etc for big events which don't clash - and visa versa. I know Josh Metcalfe is thinking of turning up on the RS200 circuit soon so watch out all you RS200 competitors... he is fast!

Once again congratulations to Mike Sims and Richard Brown for dominating the weekend. I'm sure all the prize winners will thankfully invest their generous Gul vouchers into some winter gear to keep them going through into 2015.

Rank	SailNo	HelmName	CrewName	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	1435	Michael Sims	Richard Brown	Carsington SC	1	-2	2	2	7	5
2nd	1215	Josh Metcalfe	Tobytastic Lewis	Y Felinheli SC	4	3	1	(32.0 BFD)	40	8
3rd	1203	Richard Gray	Jon Dyas	Queen Mary SC	-14	5	3	5	27	13
4th	1401	Ben Saxton	Izzy Hamilton	GWSC	9	1	(32.0 BFD)	4	46	14
5th	1175	Caroline Whitehouse	Tony Cliff	Bartley SC	11	6	-14	1	32	18
6th	1290	David Brown	Rebecca Witt	Queen Mary SC	3	4	13	(32.0 BFD)	52	20
7th	574	Steve Restall	Chris Stubbs	Downs SC	6	-9	6	9	30	21
8th	1186	Dave Exley	Jonny Limebear	Leigh & Lowton SC	-16	16	4	3	39	23
9th	1418	Howard Farbrother	Superlou Hosken	Queen Mary SC	-17	11	8	6	42	25
10th	1014	Hamish Gledhill	Simon Dowse	West Riding SC	2	17	7	(32.0 BFD)	58	26
11th	1228	Alisdair James	Andy Johnson	GWSC	10	10	-16	8	44	28
12th	1202	Sam Knight	John Knight	Bartley SC	5	-14	12	12	43	29
13th	1296	Howard Eeles	Anna Eeles	Bartley SC	8	-19	10	11	48	29
14th	1385	Jim Downer	tbc	Gurnards SC	-18	18	5	7	48	30
15th	1356	Peter Vincent	Sara Jackson	Chew Valley LSC	7	-21	9	16	53	32
16th	725	Bill Kenyon	Andy Dawson	Budworth SC	-23	13	11	10	57	34
17th	1342	Jack Holden	Alex Lee	Arun YC	12	7	20	(32.0 BFD)	71	39
18th	1216	Caroline Exley	Pete Snowdon	Leigh & Lowton SC	-19	8	17	14	58	39
19th	1131	Ben Williamson	Charlie Ticehurst	Welton SC	21	12	(32.0 BFD)	13	78	46
20th	1340	Sam Neal	Neil Cooney	GWSC	13	-20	18	17	68	48
21st	7228	Ben Longstaff	Graham Thomas	GWSC	-22	15	19	15	71	49
22nd	1201	Neil Peacock	Guy Mason	Bartley SC	15	25	(32.0 BFD)	22	94	62
23rd	564	Jacob Ainsworth	Kayleigh Roberts	Derwent Reservoir	25	23	15	(32.0 BFD)	95	63
24th	1051	Matt Sheahan	Ellie Sheahan	Netley SC	24	-26	21	18	89	63
25th	1275	David Hearsum	Gareth Fay	Hickling Broad SC	-26	24	22	21	93	67
26th	1414	Jon Gorringe	Nicki Bass	Parkstone SC	20	22	(32.0 DNC)	32.0 DNC	106	74
27th	1031	Max Tosetti	Ian Craig	Queen Mary SC	27	28	(32.0 BFD)	20	107	75
28th	628	Bob Peak	Barry Garrad	Alton Water SC	29	-30	23	23	105	75
29th	1416	Norman Bell	Barbara Bell	GWSC	-28	27	24	24	103	75
30th	1220	Andrew Creighton	James Davies	Cardiff Bay SC	30	29	(32.0 BFD)	19	110	78
31st	923	Darren Horton	Stuart Philbey	King George	31	31	(32.0 BFD)	32.0 DNC	126	94