Gul RS500 Nationals at Netley Sailing Club - Overall
by Debbie Darling 18 Aug 2008 00:54 PDT
15-17 August 2008
The final day of the 2008 Gul RS 500 National Championships dawned bright & breezy at Netley Sailing Club. After a 15 minute postponement whilst the fleet watched Ben Ainslie achieve his third Gold medal the race officer produced another set of great races for this up & coming fleet.
Andy & Liz Palmer-Felgate could only sail the Sunday of the championship
& they benefited from being fit & fresh. They rounded 1st at the
windward mark with James Peters & Ollie Spensley-Corfield & David Giles
crewed by Colin Hatton hot on their tail. Peters eventually overhauled
Palmer-Felgate on the 2nd run whilst Mike Saul & Sophie Hartley overtook
Giles only to loose it again downwind. The final positions were Peters
in 1st, Palmer-Felgate 2nd & Giles 3rd.
The wind increased again for race 9 with 20 knot gusts. Peters, Giles &
Alex Taylor crewed by Bryan Mobbs tussled all the way round but it was
the final run which proved decisive. After Taylor & Peters fought a
gybing duel it was Taylor who struggled to drop the kite in a gust
allowing Peters to retain the lead & the championship with a race to
spare. Giles snatched 2nd with Taylor having to settle with 3rd.
Race 10 started in 20 knots but increased even more. Giles, Taylor, Saul
& Tim Wilkins crewed by Jordan Rumsby battled at the front of the fleet
but again places were not secure until the very end. Giles held the lead
to the finish with Taylor close behind. Both Saul & then Wilkins
capsized at the final mark allowing Matt Johnson & Tom Weatherhead
through to take 3rd & so secure 4th overall.
An exhilarating & exhausting 3 days sailing culminated in a well
deserved National Champion & worthy runners up. James Peters ( fresh
from his ISAF World Youth Championship win ) & Ollie Spensley- Corfield
were worthy winners of the Championship crown & 1st Youth prize; whilst
2nd overall went to David Giles & Colin Hatton who also won the 1st
Masters prize. Ist Lady Crew went to Sophie Hartley in 6th place with
Anita Di Iasio from Italy the 1st Lady Helm in 9th place.
So doesn’t this prove that the RS500 is a boat suitable for all!
Many thanks to Netley Sailing Club who made us extremely welcome & provided a great venue for our second national championship.
Overall Results:
1st James Peters & Ollie Spensley-Corfield, 9 pts
2nd David Giles & Colin Hatton, 17 pts
3rd Alex Taylor & Bryan Mobbs, 19 pts
4th Matt Johnson & Tom Weatherhead, 37 pts
5th Tim Wilkins & Jordan Rumsby, 40 pts
6th Mike Saul & Sophie Hartley, 41 pts