505 UK Championship Series Round 2 at Stone Sailing Club
by Ben Iliffe 1 Jul 2015 13:38 BST
27-28 June 2015
The 505's rocked up at Stone SC for the second of this year's Championship series.
Saturday was light and patchy with great gains to be made.
Race 1 saw Nathan Bachelor and Norman Bird take a convincing win with Ben Iliffe & Richard Nurse just taking second from Matt & Dan Hart.
In Race 2 fortunes where reversed with Iliffe & Nurse winning with a good margin and Bachelor and Bird 2nd.
For the last race of the day, the boat of Bachelor/Bird & Iliffe/Nurse were firmly locked in battle resulting in them both gaining large separation from the rest of the fleet and finishing about 1 boat length apart from each other.
In the evening the fleet tucked in to some of Stone SC's fabulous hospitality and supported the local economy in the bar. Norman Bird eat a whole angel delight for his pudding and has now finally fulfilled his ambitions.
A 10:45 start on Sunday saw Bachelor/Bird win.
Charlie Walters and Dougal Cram where fast finding their feet in the new boat and demonstrated it nicely in race two of the day taking close win from 8860 who lead up the first beat with Iliffe/nurse second to the windward mark. Bobbie and James lead at the gybe mark Charlie and Dougal climbed on both boats. All three had to drop their kite to made the leeward mark, but with a further shift Iliffe/nurse missed the leeward mark by a good 100 yards and where out of the running. The battle continued with Charlie and Dougal just rolling Bobbie and James to take the win.
Race 3 of Sunday saw Batchelor/Bird & Iliffe/Nurse resume battle heading to the left hand side of the course whilst the rest of the fleet went hard right. The boats came together at the windward mark. Bachelor/Bird in the lead Walter and Cram 2nd Iliffe/Nurse 3rd. As the race progressed Batchelor and Bird did enough to put themselves and the regatta into a safe position securing the victory. Iliffe/Nurse passed walters and Cram on the second beat only to be taken back on the run and to then take them again on the next beat. Taking advantage of a left hand shift to consolidate 2nd in the race and overall in the regatta. Walter and Cram Finished 3rd in both the race and regatta.
So it is with great pleasure that we thank Stone SC for hoisting the fleet and putting on some great racing in challenging conditions.
The Next stop on the Championship circuit is WAPSA for the UK National Champs. With theracing area the same as the 2016 world Champions. The event has attracted and great number of international visitors and looks to an true international occasion.