Gul RS600 Grand Prix at Weston Sailing Club

Five RS600s competed at the one day Open event at the friendly Weston Sailing Club. Weston had kindly stepped in to replace the Draycote event which had been cancelled and many thanks to the local boats for joining in.

The conditions proved highly changeable with the first race starting in around 10 knots with large holes and windshifts. Fortunately the course was well laid so that the racing was not interrupted by the club racing 49ers and other asymmetrics. Tom Gall made a clean start and held onto his commanding lead throughout the race. After a poor start Richard Broughton followed him home into 2nd place with Roger Kinke successfully fighting for 3rd.

The second race started in similar conditions on the same course, with Tom Gall once again leading to the windward mark. The wind shifted around up the beat favouring Richard Broughton and contributing to Tom hitting the first mark. Then across the reach (now with Richard leading), the wind really piped up and made for some exciting downwind sailing in front of the picturesque Netley Castle. Richard held onto his lead around the second lap with Tom Gall closing him down. Then on the run a big gust caught Tom out sending his boom skyward and rolling the boat over leaving Jim Wise to cruise by into second place.

At this point the fleet was called in for a change of course whilst the wind continued to build into a squall. Therefore the decision was made to finish the event there with the following results.

Overall Results:

We all look forward to the next event at Paignton on 12-13th May where I'm sure they will be more boats due to the number of locals sailing in the fantastic Torbay.