Results / Open Parkstone YC - 19/05/2012

Full Event Report – July 27-29

 

A record breaking turnout saw 48 RS Vareos at Netley for the 2007 Nationals – some arriving on the previous day for some pre-Nats Training.   Driving rain and 35 knots recorded over the water at Calshot kept the training to dry format.  However on day one it was a mere stiff breeze of F5 which greeted the fleet.  Neap tides kept further complications to a minimum but the attendant chop did make for challenging conditions.   As a measure of that, use of kites was highly effective but in the conditions prevailing were a risk which sometimes didn’t always pay off.  Capsizes and inversions were commonplace and the fleet was gradually whittled down to the larger or more experienced sailors over the day.   The end of day one saw Chris Larr (2006 Class Champion) fitting the Seasure Golden Tiller.

Weather on Saturday could not have been more different from Day 1 – both in terms of absolute wind strength and variability.  From R4-6 the wind increased gradually from F2 up to F4, providing welcome conditions for those sailors who had struggled on Friday.   R7 however was to deal a big surprise just after the leading boats started their final downwind leg – the wind just dropped to F1 and saw the leaders at that point spread out on both tacks and not finding sufficient strength to go as low as desired.   The remainder of the fleet took note and the majority opted for the dead run minus kite.  Consequently there was quite an upset in the final placings for the last race of the day.  Paul Childs notched up 1^st place in the first race although his rivals who had done better on Friday made consistent good placings in R4 + 5.   The general upset in R7 resulted in a reshuffling of the lead but at this point Andy Temple, Chris Larr, and Alain Sign were still very much head to head.  At this stage Larr’s retention of the Seasure Golden Tiller from Day 1 to 2 was beginning to look as though it may be permanent. 

Sunday brought another very different day weather-wise.   A gradually increasing North-westerly starting at F2-3 building to F3-5 by R10.   The day started with a possible championship for any 4 or 5 of the top sailors.  Chris Larr had a surprising 10^th place in R8 and as he had suffered from the wind dying in the last race on Saturday that score had to count (discard was R7).   That put huge pressure on him for the last 2 races.  In the meantime, hammering home the message Andy Temple delivered a 2^nd, 2^nd and 1^st and that was sufficient to have Chris hand over the much coveted Golden Tiller to Andy for regular future displays off the Kent Coast.   

GUL RS Vareo National Champion          Andy Temple Broadstairs SC

2^nd overall                                              Alain Sign (Stokes Bay SC)

3^rd overall                                               Chris Larr (Grafham Water SC)

4^th overall                                               Paul Childs (Solent Univ SC)

5^th overall                                               Nigel Tinkler (Llandegfedd SC)

1^st Master                                              Nigel Tinkler (Llandegfedd SC)

1^st Lady Helm                                        Julie Hanson (Mount’s Bay SC)

1^st Silver Fleet                                        David Fewings (Bowmoor SC)

1^st Youth                                               Alain Sign (Stokes Bay SC)

Merit prize                                             Paul Jackson (Mount’s Bay SC)

Big thanks go to the sponsors, Fat Face, GUL, Harken, Seasure, Noble Marine and Hyde.   Netley SC was for this championship a truly superb venue and the club organised the event to absolute perfection and the video backed coaching debriefs from Nick Martin were highly appreciated by all.