GP14 National Championships at South Caernarvonshire YC

GP14 National Championships at South Caernarvonshire YC – Day 1

by GP14 UK Class Association on 1 Aug 2011

GP14 Nationals 2011 - Day 1 GP14 Class Association http://www.gp14.co.uk/

GP14 National Championships is being hosted by South Caernarvonshire Yacht Club on the Lleyn Peninsular in North Wales from 30th July to 5th August.

Part of the much coveted Grand Prix series, this Blue Ribbon Event of the GP14 racing calendar has attracted over 100 sailors under the guidance of PRO, Malcolm Blackburn, a familiar face for the GP sailors. The conditions for the competitors was forecast to be a southerly breeze touching 20 mph, although the general consensus amongst the sailors was this was only registered on the anemometer maybe once, the majority of the two races being sailed in a swinging gradient wind of force two to three. The 52 strong fleet is made up of an array of past and potentially future World, National and Youth Champions.

The GP14 is going through a period of transition; new builders are seeing the fleet is moving in the right direction with Winder and Boon developing the Epoxy hull, Alistair Duffin continually improving his World Championship winning design. Sail makers too are pushing technology to the limit to find that extra boat length off the start, resulting in a top five at the windward mark. Elite Sails won the practice race today under the steerage of a rejuvenated Carl Jeffs crewed by Steve Parker, to only be outsmarted later in the day by the Goacher Sails. Speed with their Aeroweb main were also represented well in the top ten alongside a group of moulded Norths, a few Pinnell and Bax and a suit of Omegas.So race one of the championships started bang on time, although after fifteen seconds it was clear that a General Recall was needed following a slight shift in the wind putting Mark Wolfe on a collision course with the Gate Launch, there being only one loser in that battle. Mark was sent home for an early bath leaving the Pathfinder, Rick Cornes and James Goodfellow to try again. This time the fleet was away cleanly for the beat towards St Tudwal’s Island into the southerly breeze, lead by the current World Champions Ian Dobson and Andy Tunnicliffe after their victory in Sri Lanka in February; they were being challenged by the remainder of the fleet, including Fireball/Solo specialists Tom Gillard and Bruce Deppe and current Merlin Nationals and subsequent Endeavour trophy holders Stuart Bithell and Christian Birrell (Stuart is campaigning a 470 as crew for the 2012 Games at Weymouth). The supreme skills of these two shone through by the end of the race passing the GP specialists when the wind veered, changing the reaching angles on the final triangle of the course. The pathfinders were able to maintain their early position resulting in a top five position putting them in early control of the Silver fleet, their nearest competitors Rich Bennett and Chris White in 14th Place. Ellie Davies and Nicola Booth in Silver are also looking good in 15th, comfortably in the top third of the fleet, as well as being someway ahead of their nearest rival in the Ladies trophy. The Bronze fleet sailors of Gavin Tullett and Mark Wilson are also in the top twenty showing great speed downwind. They are looking over their shoulder at Calum Mackenzie crewed by Alison Norbury in 21st. A great first day was had by most. No damage to report although I’m sure rigs will be checked in the morning to find that extra turn of speed as the new week begins, with expected lighter wind set to challenge the sailors till at least Wednesday.

Results:

Rank	Fleet	Sail No	Boat	Helm Name	Crew Name	Club	R1	Total	Nett
1st	Gold	14091		Stuart Bithell	Christian Birrell	Hollingworth Lake SC	1.0	1.0	1.0
2nd	Gold	14021	Monty	Ian Dobson	Andy Tunnicliffe	Burwain SC/ RWYC	2.0	2.0	2.0
3rd	Gold	14067	One Purpose 14	Tom Gillard	Bruce Deppe	Sheffild Viking SC	3.0	3.0	3.0
4th	Gold	14059	Tatty Bo Jangles	Ross Kearney	Ed Bradburn	Nottingham SC/SSSC	4.0	4.0	4.0
5th	Silver	13949		Richard Cornes	James Goodfellow	Milton Keynes SC	5.0	5.0	5.0
6th	Gold	14082	Screamer	Mike Senior	Liz Senior	South Staffs SC	6.0	6.0	6.0
7th	Gold	14093		Simon Potts	Chris Robinson	Chase SC	7.0	7.0	7.0
8th	Gold	14061		Shane MacCarthy	Andy Davis	Greystones SC	8.0	8.0	8.0
9th	Gold	14089		Carl Jeffs	Steve Parker	Trimpley SC	9.0	9.0	9.0
10th	Gold	14090		Pete Mitchell	David Heyes	RYA/Hayling Island SC	10.0	10.0	10.0
11th	Gold	13931		Richard Instone	Jim Toothill	Chase SC/Blithfield SC	11.0	11.0	11.0
12th	Gold	13978	White Rabbit	Dave Young	Seonaid Fleming	South Staffs SC	12.0	12.0	12.0
13th	Gold	13819		Andrew Greenhalgh	Mark Greenhalgh	Annandale SC/Derwent Reservoir SC	13.0	13.0	13.0
14th	Silver	13611		Richard Bennett	Chris White	South Staffs SC	14.0	14.0	14.0
15th	Silver	13946	In your honour	Eleanor Davies	Nicola Booth	South Staffs SC	15.0	15.0	15.0
16th	Silver	14020		Stephen Browne	Keith Bundy	Leigh on Sea SC	16.0	16.0	16.0
17th	Bronze	13952		Gavin Tullett	Mark Wilson	Royal Windermere YC	17.0	17.0	17.0
18th	Silver	14003		Matt Thursfield	James Bridge	RYA/Southport SC	18.0	18.0	18.0
19th	Silver	13894		David Pugh	Anne Pugh	South Staffs SC	19.0	19.0	19.0
20th	Silver	13930	Swiper	Ian Sinclair	Alan Jones	Bolton SC	20.0	20.0	20.0
21st	Bronze	13938		Calum Mackenzie	Alison Norbury	Ogston SC	21.0	21.0	21.0
22nd	Silver	13915	Chi	Daniel Gill	Hugh Gill	Sutton DC	22.0	22.0	22.0
23rd	Silver	13733	Pegasus	Greg Thomas	Emily Cole - Evans	Southport SC	23.0	23.0	23.0
24th	Silver	13839		Sam Blocksidge	Chris Cook	South Staffs SC	24.0	24.0	24.0
25th	Silver	13939	Chase Me	Lee Thomas	Stuart Whiteside	Southport SC	25.0	25.0	25.0
26th	Silver	13427		Graham Jones	Connie Hicklin	South Staffs SC	26.0	26.0	26.0
27th	Silver	14015	Mutly	Alastair Mitchell	Pippa Mitchell	Winsford Flash SC	27.0	27.0	27.0
28th	Silver	13900	Unzipped 2	Bill Kenyon	Ben Ditchburn	Budworth SC	28.0	28.0	28.0
29th	Gold	1408		Adam Parry	Sam Collingwood	South Staffs SC	29.0	29.0	29.0
30th	Silver	13911	Libertine	Dave Burrows	Kate Billinge	Winsford Flash SC	30.0	30.0	30.0
31st	Silver	13791	Bean Bantered	Julie Waddington	Chris Waddington	Bolton SC	31.0	31.0	31.0
32nd	Gold	13933		Gary Deighan	Alan Woods	Bolton SC	32.0	32.0	32.0
33rd	Silver	14051		Chris Beddow	Sarah Davies	South Staffs SC	33.0	33.0	33.0
34th	Silver	13727		Tim Davies	Mark Collingwood	Chelmarsh SC	34.0	34.0	34.0
35th	Bronze	13859		Mark Fleming	Richard Booth	South Staffs SC	35.0	35.0	35.0
36th	Bronze	13594		Ruslan Scutelnic	Alexandru Scutelnic	BTYC Sailsports	36.0	36.0	36.0
37th	Bronze	13371		P Sutton	Simon Berrill	Southport SC	37.0	37.0	37.0
38th	Bronze	14057	Costa Lot	Ann Penny	Duncan Greenhalgh	Derwent Reservoir SC	38.0	38.0	38.0
39th	Bronze	12800	Clasical Glass	Stephen Hobbs	James Hobbs	Thornbury SC	39.0	39.0	39.0
40th	Silver	13904		Martin Warburton	James Croxford	South Staffs SC	40.0	40.0	40.0
41st	Bronze	13747	Suzy	Tom Foulkes	Ian Foulkes	Winsford Flash SC	41.0	41.0	41.0
42nd	Bronze	13778		Rob Hicklin	Clive Wright	South Staffs SC	42.0	42.0	42.0
43rd	Silver	13980		Roger Walton	Helen Allen	BTYC Sailsports	43.0	43.0	43.0
44th	Bronze	13584	Bog frog	Connor McNamara	Tom Jowett	Llandudno SC	44.0	44.0	44.0
45th	Bronze	14088		Duncan Fraser	Gail Fraser	Ceylon Motor YC	45.0	45.0	45.0
46th	Bronze	13758		Maurice Cooper	Jessica Campbell	Derwent Reservoir SC	46.0	46.0	46.0
47th	Bronze	13401	Crackerjack	Jack Wilson	Amanda Wilson	Royal Windermere YC	47.0	47.0	47.0
48th	Bronze	13566		Michael Davies	Michell Evans	South Staffs SC	48.0	48.0	48.0
49th	Bronze	13274		Nick Brandon	Charlie Brandon	South Staffs SC	53.0 DNF	53.0	53.0
49th	Silver	13880	Koru	Mandy Mitchell	Jon Close	Winsford Flash SC	53.0 DNS	53.0	53.0
49th	Silver	13713		Colin Midgley	Justin Smith	Derwent Reservoir SC	53.0 DNS	53.0	53.0
49th	Silver	14014		Mark Wolf	Alain Renaud	BTYC Sailsports	53.0 DSQ	53.0	53.0