Please select your home edition
Edition
Selden 2020 - LEADERBOARD

Gul Winter Series at Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club

by Nikki Buckler 10 Apr 2009 08:51 BST 4 April 2009

Saturday 4th April saw the last race in the successful Gul Winter Series. The series which ran from 10th January had 49 boats entered in the series with regular turnouts in the high twenties / low thirties with a series high point of 36 boats on the water for one of the races.

The last day of the series also saw a welcome visit by a small pod of Dolphins which followed some of the boats towards the end of the first race of the day giving everyone a special end to the series

The fast handicap fleet saw a clean start with the usual suspects heading for the front. Conrad Humphreys and Ryan Crawford in the Hobie Tiger shot off followed by the B14, RS400 and the Phantom all vying for the best wind-shifts. At the first leeward mark Rod and Sharon in the B14 had a mad moment and rounded to Port, the rest of the fleet correctly to Starboard. After a helpful, but late, shout, back they went to sort it out. At the finish, Conrad in the Tiger was first followed, by John Bower in his Phantom, and John and Anne McLaren in the RS400.

The final race started soon after on the same course. A little more wind gave everyone a good beat across the sound and some stronger reaches / runs back. The second B14 of Martin Northcott took a quick dip at the leeward mark and decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and headed for an early bath and the bar. The rest of fleet circulated until the PRO sounded the finish gun to end a superb Gul / RPCYC winter series. Conrad and the Tiger took this race also but only by 3 seconds on handicap from Rod and Sharon in the B14 with the Phantom completing a good days “yottin” finishing 3rd.

Overall the Fast Handicap Fleet was won by Rod Boswijk & Sharon Binney in their B14 with Conrad Humphries & Ryan Crawford in their Hobie Tiger in second place who was on the same points as John & Anne McLaren in their RS400 but had a better discard profile. RPCYC’s John Bower was eight points behind in fourth place.

The slow handicap fleet saw another newcomer to the series with Neil & Natalie Roach joining the established fleet in their RS 200. They opted to stay clear of the main fleet at the start along with Liam Arrowsmith & Jon Buckler & started towards the far end or the line giving a very tight reach to the first mark with the bulk of the fleet starting nearer to the Club end of the line giving themselves a slightly better reaching leg.

The tactic seemed to pay off with the RS200 disappearing into the distance closely followed by the Laser Radials of Liam Arrowsmith & Catherine Hough. Chasing hard was Jon Buckler’s Solo with Pete & Dani Middleton hard on the Solo’s transom in their RS Feva from Roadford SC which eventually claimed second place on handicap behind the RS200 with only one second between them & the Solo on corrected time which finished in third place.

The second race saw the same tactics with Neil & Natalie Roach dominating the race to win by nearly three minutes on the water & a minute and a half on corrected time. This race saw the two laser radials keep ahead of the others with Liam Arrowsmith claiming second place & Catherine Hough in third place ahead of Rob Lloyds Topper in fourth place.

Overall the Slow Handicap fleet was won by Liam Arrowsmith of Plym Yacht Club in a Laser Radial with RPCYC’s Jon Buckler in a Solo in second place. Plymouth Youth Sailing’s George Watson took third place in his Topper dislodging the previous series leader Sarah Kennedy into fourth spot after she was unable to attend the last two dates of the series.

The 16 & Under category was won by George Watson in his Topper with Luke Old also in a Topper in second place. Third was Robyn Edgecombe & Aoifie Webb in a Laser 2000. They all came from Plymouth Youth Sailing.

Special thanks go to Gul for sponsoring the series along with the Keith Kendall who was the Principle Race Officer for the series. Thanks are also needed to all the volunteers from Plymouth Youth Sailing & Hooe Point Sailing Club who provided additional safety support to the RPCYC own safety boat.

Related Articles

SailGP: Kiwis win tense Final in Plymouth
The Peter Burling and Blair Tuke led NZSailGP team win their first ever SailGP Final, The NZSailGP team won their first ever SailGP Final, dominating two of three tense races on Plymouth Sound. The Kiwis fought hard in difficult wind pressure as the F50's dropped on and off their foils, requiring careful boat positioning. Posted on 31 Jul 2022
Gladwell's Line: A Kiwi 'Code Cracker?'
The Kiwi team have failed to fire in a consistent way for Season 2 and for two events of Season 3 After failing to fire in a consistent way for Season 2 and the two events so far in Season 3 of SailGP. But on Day 1 of SailGP Great Britain the Kiwi team appeared to have turned the corner - and repeated the performance on Day 2, winning the Final Posted on 31 Jul 2022
Kiwis in top spot after Day 1 of Plymouth SailGP
Kiwis lead Great Britain Sail Grand Prix by 2pts on the leader-board. Full Day 1 video replay here. The New Zealand SailGP Team is off to a flying start in Plymouth, finishing on top of the points-table at the end of Day 1 of the Great Britain Sail Grand Prix with 28 points out of a possible 30 on the leader-board. Full video replay here. Posted on 30 Jul 2022
Impala National Champsionships at Plymouth
A weekend of Caribbean sunshine for ten boats Ten boats ventured to Plymouth for the first official Impala championships since the pandemic, from the Fal in the West to the Hamble to the East for a weekend of Caribbean sunshine and light but fairly steady wind. Posted on 13 Jul 2022
Great Britain Sail Grand Prix day 1
Rivalries reignited as Plymouth hosts thousands of spectators Record numbers of fans turned out to watch the world's most exciting racing on water from Plymouth Hoe on what was the perfect British summer day both on and off the water. Posted on 17 Jul 2021
Force 4 Summer Series at Plymouth
Sunshine lures sailors out at Royal Plymouth Corinthian YC Thursday brought wall to wall sunshine and that enticed the boats out to enjoy the racing. A sub 5 knot Westerly kicked things off with a slow start for the Squibs but this wasn't to set the tone. Posted on 20 Apr 2018
Larks at Plymouth
For the final Helly Hansen Great 8 event of the season Autumn may be upon us, but it hadn't reached Plymouth on 24/25 October, with the Larks enjoying great sailing in the sunshine in the last of the Helly Hansen Great8 events of the season. Posted on 28 Oct 2015
Gul Final Fling in Plymouth
Cold, wet and windy Cold wet and windy, yes the Final Fling was back. Thanks to sponsorship from Gul, the classic Plymouth end of season open event returned hosted by the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club. Posted on 27 Oct 2015
Gul Final Fling entry discount ending
Get your entry in by 9pm on Saturday With just over a week to go to the rebirth of the Gul Final Fling entries are still streaming in from across the country. There is however just a little over 24 hours before the discount entry period ends at 21:00 on Saturday 17th October. Posted on 16 Oct 2015
Gul Final Fling in Plymouth preview
Resurrection of a classic There are many tales from the past of great events long gone and over the past few years visitors to the Royal Plymouth Corinthian Yacht Club have been looking back with one event standing out above all others. Posted on 10 Sep 2015