McGrane and Vidal dominate RS800 Racing Circuit Event at WPNSA

by Guy Fillmore on 9 Jun 2009 The anticipation of a sunny weekend in Portland was enough to pull out the biggest RS800 fleet of the season to date. There were as many returning old faces as there was new teams who found the, as it turned out, light conditions a perfect opportunity to experience RS800 racing.

Largely light and stable wind conditions resulted in very even racing where big gains were hard to come by. Every place gained was hard fought and each pace lost was a hard blow. This put huge priority on the start and resulted in very close competition in both the Gold Fleet and the Silver Fleet. A detailed report of the Silver Fleet standings will feature in the next report.

The Gold Fleet was dominated by Ben McGrane and Olivier Vidal who only lost a race to Spod Olive and Guy Fillmore. Olive and Fillmore had a run of misfortune that kept them down the overall results. More unfortunate still were the team of The Little Man and James Hughes who managed to crash into a concrete buoy in 8 knots of wind and damage their boat sufficiently to miss two races.

Peter Barton and Roz Allan returned to the fleet after a few events away and finished second ahead of Ian Martin and Jamaican bobsleigher Sanka Coffie who had a consistent day Sunday. The ones-to-watch in the Gold Fleet were Sam Mettam and Paul Rigg from Royal Navy Sailing who had their highest finish in an Open Meeting at 6th.

RS800 - Racing Circuit Event at WPNSA

1st 1 Chew Vally SC Ben Lengend McGrane Olivier Vidal 7.0
2nd 1016 Rotyal Lymington YC Peter Barton Roz Allan 26.0
3rd 1144 King & Queen YC Ian Martin Adam Broughton 29.0
4th 1153 Royal Lymington Rob Watson John Clifton 31.0
5th 1114 BCYC Tom Halhead Christian Humphrey 36.0
6th 812 Royal Navy Sailing Sam Mettam Paul Rigg 40.0
7th 1121 Helensburgh Ben Schooling George Kingsnorth 41.0
8th 1133 Lancing SC Justin Deal Ollie Page 42.0
9th 1148 FFSC Matt Gill Tiny Wincer 43.0
10th 1158 Gill Race Team Charlie Roome Tom Jeffcoate 44.0
11th 1116 Alton Sailing Club Adrian Coatsworth Julia Coatsworth 46.0
12th 1128 Eastbourne SSC Ansy Jeffries Nick Jerkins 49.0
13th 1146 Stokes Bay Spod Olive Guy Fillmore 54.0
14th 1075 Oxford Sailing Club Ross McKerchar Phil Lasko 55.0
15th 1130 Thorpe Bay The Little Man James Hughes 64.0
16th 878 Starcross & Grafham Water SC Tim Saxton Nicola Groves 76.0
17th 1136 Eastbourne SSC David Pike Fiona Laockwood 79.0
18th 1112 Chew Vally SC Ralph Singleton Alex Knight 82.0
19th 1132 Eastbourne Sovereign Sailing Mick Whitmore Sarah Smith 85.0
20th 1072 Stokes Bay Brett Ellway Jaimie Bick 87.0
21st 982 HISC Sam Maxfield Rob Gullan 90.0
22nd 1089 Rutland SC Roger Philips Will Crocker 92.0
23rd 1005 Emsworth Slipper SC| Andrew Gould Michael Frogley 92.0
24th 978 Neil Ashby Sam Proctor 98.0
25th 907 Parkstone Ed Whitehead Karen Baker 109.0
26th 1079 ESSC Theo Galyer Jack Spencer 111.0
27th 983 Mumbles YC Any Harvey Mike Stone 112.0
28th 1127 Oxford Derek Buchanan Elaine Buchanan 113.0
29th 1062 CVLSC Andy Scott Derian Scott 126.0
30th 1015 Llandegfedd SC Andy Howard Alex Howard 130.0
31st 1011 HISC Richard Marsden Emma Toman 137.0
32nd 1076 Felixstowe Ferry SC Sam Seddom Josh Seddon 140.0
33rd 1012 Chew Vally Joe Joyner Hannah Jones 147.0
34th 1135 Ullswater YC Stephen D Brown Phillip Bairstow 152.0
35th 868 Grafham Water Sc Joel Walker Mandy Horton 164.0
36th 1156 Stokes Bay SC Jon Bennett Wayne Coote 171.0
37th 922 Grafham Water SC Ian Paterson Carol Paterson 172.0
38th 873 Hamble River Mark Duckworth Emma Clarke 179.0
39th 937 Emsworth Slipper Alex Thorsby Pete Mccoy 183.0
40th 1065 DWSC Antony Mee Clare Rickard 187.0
41st 111 weston Howard Osborne Emma Pethybridge 191.