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.