International Contender British Championship at Hayling Island Sailing Club - Day 2

Day 1 of the International Contender British Championship at Hayling Island © Peter Hickson

After an evening of defending our canapés from the masses, and having a few drinks, day 2 dawned with light wind but with the promise of more. Out on the course the 16 knot breeze had some unusual knocks in it so it wouldn't be a straight forward "fastest wins" affair.

Day 1 leader Stuart Jones's consistency and nous (his words) would be required to fight off Graham Scott, who has number of skills in the bank when its shifty and Simon Mussell, who has speed to burn when its breezy, who would win out?

The start of race 3 saw the boats mid line strike gold but those pin enders who chose to tack onto port earlier and duck sterns made ground by the windward mark. It was Mussell who made it in first followed by Richard Batten and Ed Presley. Graham Scott made gains down both reaches, as he does, to close onto Batten but Richard was very quick upwind and carved a decent gap from Scott. Simon won by a fair margin and was rarely hassled.

With a bit more bias on the line, boats at the committee boat made the best start in race 4. Nick Noble and Graham Scott seemed to be cracking it but Ben Holden was one of the few who made the left pay. These three squirted off downwind but with a large fleet hovering behind. This routine stuff was interrupted up the second beat when the wind rudely stranded Ben and others out left without so much as a hint, Scott and Noble just survived with Ed Presley getting the benefit of the stealth shift on the left.

Once again things look settled after a run with no redeeming features, but the wind had its next evil trick lined up for the last beat. Graham had a enviable lead and Nick in 2nd could feel secure with a bit of a buffer back to Ed, I'll these three stayed right in a classic contender manner (too lazy to tack) and then witnessed Mussell come from nowhere on the left to plop in behind Graham. Graham luckily had only some reaching left to do and he's pretty good at that. Simon second and a cheesed off Nick third.

Now we have Simon leading from Graham by a point and Jones third, obviously Ed is in fourth again because he is writing this report.

Results after day 2: