GP14 National Championship at Pwllheli Sailing Club - Day 3

Champagne racing was the promise for Day 3 of the GP14 National Championships but as we set off for the scheduled start it was more like weak orange squash. Having failed to notice the significant lightness of the wind I thought we would be a shoe in for the Naff Award as we left the beach late and were nowhere near the course with five minutes to go. Finally after an hour long float we arrived to the postponement flag and were duly sent straight back. The hour long paddle with the spinnaker pole at least passed the time!

The race team did a great job by keeping the boats on the beach and holding off for a decision to go back out again until they were assured it had filled in enough. And it did at 2pm thankfully.

Lining up for the first start (Race 4) we noticed a number of boats had been a bit slow to leave the beach and were still coming downwind to the line we were looking to cross including Andrew Clewer and Mark Taylor (Poole YC) and Helen Allen and Maciej Malyjaszczuk (Welsh Harp SC) with their distinctive Welsh dragon spinny. Luckily for them none of us had paid particular attention to the tide and the majority of the fleet was taken over before the start. We got away on the third attempt but there were still four boats OCS.

With the wind now around 7 knots (or as weather guru Frank Nickless described to me 'light and sh**e') it looked set to favour some of the lighter pairings on the water such as Mike and Liz Senior (South Staffs SC), Ian Willis and Keith Dutton (South Staffs SC) and Sam Watson and Andy Hunter (Nantwich SC).

Sam and Andy had a fairly unlucky first couple of days so it was nice to see them get round the windward mark first although they were being hunted down by light wind lovers Mike and Liz who caught them by the end of the first lap and to take the eventual win with Sam and Andy retaining second.

Race 5 got away clean and we were off. The beats all week have been tricky with even the best sailors stumped by how easy it was to tack what seemed to be the right shift only to lose 10 places.

Normal service was resumed at this point with Shane MacCarthy and Andy Thompson (Greystones SC) winning, Fergus Barnham and Ellie Deverux (Northampton SC/Budworth SC) second and Mike and Liz Senior (South Staffs SC) third and reflecting the overall standings as of Day 3.

Thanks to post race beer sponsors Joules, racing sponsored by SP Boats and Elite Sails with some spot prizes donated by North Sails.

Results after Day 3: