National 12 Gul Series Finale and Inlands at Northampton this weekend
by Gerald Copsey 2 Nov 2016 11:05 GMT
5-6 November 2016
Sophie Mackley and Charlotte Stewart at Brightlingsea © Frances Copsey
The National 12 Gul series 2016 finale(Saturday only)and Inland Championships take place at Pitsford reservoir Northampton this weekend.
The Gul series has attracted over 60 boats to take part with very generous prizes from Gul on offer.
The series could not be closer with the two heavyweights of the class Graham Camm with Zoe Ballantyne and Tom Stewart with son Robert both counting two firsts and two seconds. This means that whoever wins the day will win the series.
The final podium place will be a battle between Jeremy Hartley with son Luke and John Meadowcroft with son Ollie. The slim advantage is with Jeremy/Luke with Jon and Ollie needing to beat them and finish in the top three to overtake.
Note that three of the top four boats are Father/son combinations and in the family competition these three are having a titanic battle.
Tom and Robert are favourites but if Jeremy and Luke are first family boat home on Saturday they will take first place in this category even if Tom and Robert win the Gul series overall. If John and Ollie are first family boat home then Tom and Robert will win overall and Jeremy and Luke would need to be second family boat home to prevent John and Ollie from grabbing second place overall.
The Admiral's Cup section is led by last year's winners Neal and Freya Lillywhite but they could still be caught by Alan Beeton who will take home the trophy if he is first AC boat home on Saturday.
In the Double Floor, Non Foiling section Nigel and Chris White have the win in the bag with Jon Brown favourite for second place.
The results on Saturday bring another successful Gul series to an end but are also counting towards the Inland Championships which conclude on Sunday.