Results / Inland Championship GWSC - 02/10/2010

A southerly force three and sunshine welcomed us to Grafham. We shared a course with three other RS fleets but with 3-2-1-go start sequences and the fleets split between inner and outer loops there was excellent racing. The windward mark was set not far off the tree-line club shore, giving flukey and gusty shifts at the top of the course, and allowing  the Middle Nene sailors in our fleet to feel very much at home.

Race One

Matt Moore went left up the first beat and stormed into the lead on a big left shift. Unfortunately for him, a big right shift as we approach the top mark left him well down on Matt Yallop and Andrew Wilson. These two had a close race, with Matt picking the shifts better on the final beat to take the win.

Race Two

Matt Yallop performed a perfectly timed port-tack start to take an early lead.  Matt Moore challenged him all the way around the course but couldn’t break through, while Andrew discovered the slowing effect of weed. Further back, Richard Lee was getting into his stride and giving Cheryl Wood a close race for fourth place.

Race Three

Andrew picked the shifts correctly to lead narrowly around the first mark, but couldn’t hold off the two Matts. An incredibly close race had the top three finishing line astern with Matt Yallop completing a perfect scoreline for the day.

Sunday brought a very grey sky with a brisk force 4. The low cloud gave some very strong gusts, making for some fabulously fast downwind sailing and some achingly long beats.

Race Four

Andrew led around the first mark, but only Matt Yallop managed to stay upright down the first run and so rounded the leeward mark with a substantial lead. A long five-lap race saw Andrew slowly reducing this lead, but Matt held on to take his fourth win. Meanwhile Cheryl and Matt Moore were having a close race for third, with Cheryl just holding on by a couple of boat lenths at the finish.

Race Five

A closer race here with everyone managing to stay upright. Matt Moore lost a lot of ground when a squall prevented him from lowering his kite and he sailed way beyond the leeward mark. Meanwhile Andrew picked the right shift up the final beat to record the win.

Race Six

The rain had by now arrived, and the wind increased a notch. With Matt Yallop able to rest his back, having done enough already to secure the overall win, and Cheryl also heading ashore, this was to be match race between Matt Moore and Andrew.

Matt looked to have this in the bag when Andrew went in on the first run, but Andrew was going faster and down the final run Matt’s lead was far from comfortable. 

Matt had to gybe first for the finish, wobbled – and fell in. Andrew then tok the safe option of dropping his kite to gybe and sailed through for his second win of the day.

Results