Gul RS800 Grand Prix at Beer Sailing Club

by RS Class Association 4 Jul 2010 16:37 BST 19-20 June 2010

RS800s at Beer © Mike Rice / www.fotoboat.com

The RS800 fleet descended on the South West for their annual pilgrimage to Beer this weekend, and as usual the club didn’t disappoint.

Whilst the breeze was lighter than in previous years, the club ran 6 good races over the course of the two days, plied the fleet with as much food as they could eat including full post race tea on Sunday, and laid on clear blue skies whilst the 200s were finding their thermals up north! The volunteer run club always makes the 800 fleet feel very welcome, and wanting to return year after year.

Saturday’s northerly made the racing shifty and gusty, with picking your lane very important, and leaving most of the fleet struggling for consistency. Brett Ellway & Jamie Oaten, Charlie Roome & Dave Steed, and Ben McGrane & Roz Allen all picked up race wins, but it was Justin Deal & Ollie Page who once again showed they might be the master’s of the venue, leading overnight with 2,2,3.

With a few feeling the after effects of attempts to drink the club’s rum supply dry in aid of the club house fundraising efforts, Sunday brought a moderate sea breeze, providing must steadier breeze. 9 different boats made it into the top 6, which even with a few regulars missing due to other commitments shows the strength of the fleet. Race winners were James Date & Toby Wincer, who looked on course to repeat that feat until in race 2 they were ruled OCS, Hugh Watson & Susanna Bickford, and in the final race allowing them to secure overall victory, Ben McGrane & Roz Allen.

Behind McGrane & Allen, Deal & Page, and Roome & Steed rounded out the top three, with Ellway & Oaten winning the Handicap Prize.

The fleet as ever as keen to go back next year, preferably not on Summer Solstice weekend though!

Final circuit event before Garda and the Nationals is Eastbourne on 3rd/4th July, where a bumper turn around is expected in the last event before the pilgrimage to Italy begins.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Pts
1	1163	Ben McGrane	Roz Allen	Netley	3	4	1	2	5	1	11
2	1133	Justin Deal	Ollie Page	Burghfield	2	2	3	6	3	5	15
3	1158	Charlie Roome	Dave Steed	RYA	7	1	9	3	2	3	16
4	1121	Ben Schooling	George Kingsworth	Helensburgh	5	3	7	4	7	2	21
5	1124	Laurie Fitzjohn-Sykes	Daniel Allin	Dittisham	10	8	6	7	4	4	29
6	1128	Andy Jeffries	Allyson Ooy	Eastbourne	8	5	2	8	12	14	35
7	1147	Brett Ellnay	Jamie Oaten	Stokes Bay	1	12	8	11	6	11	37
8	878	Tim Saxton	Nicola Groves	EVSC	6	6	13	12	10	7	41
9	1144	Nicholas Charles	Chris Martin	Datchet	13	7	5	16	11	10	46
10	966	Hugh Watson	Susanna Bichford	Emsworth	20	11	12	14	1	13	51
11	1047	Simon Grundy	Guy Whitby		14	10	20	10	13	6	53
12	1148	James Date	Toby Wincer		9	16	4	1	25	25	55
13	1146	Chris Webber	Jim Baldwin	Oxford Uni	4	19	10	5	25	25	63
14	1075	Ross McKerchan	Phil Losko	Oxford	16	15	14	9	18	9	63
15	1101	Russ Gibbs	Megan Fileman	Starcross	18	14	11	17	14	8	64
16	1005	Andrew Gould	Emma Pethybridge	Weston	17	9	17	20	8	18	69
17	907	E Whitchead	J Hilton		12	13	19	18	15	12	70
18	962	Simon Fosket	Matt Bernbeck		11	17	23	19	16	16	79
19	868	Joel Walker	Sarah Crossman	Branchester Staithe	15	25	25	22	9	15	86
20	1156	Jon Bennett	Paul Hargreaves		21	22	15	13	20	20	89
21	983	Ant Harvey	Mike Stone	Mumbles	22	21	22	15	17	17	92
22	968	Tom Foskett	James Foskett	Weston	19	18	16	23	21	22	96
23	1077	Nick Smith	Hannah Smith	Thornbury	24	20	18	21	19	19	97
24	1074	Jon Keast	Alex Accleton	St Ives	23	23	21	24	22	21	110